In this chapter, we're going to cover the spec file in detail. There are a number of different types of entries that comprise a spec file, and every one will be documented here. The different types of entries are:
Comments — Human-readable notes ignored by RPM.
Tags — Define data.
Scripts — Contain commands to be executed at specific times.
Macros — A method of executing multiple commands easily.
The %files list — A list of files to be included in the package.
Directives — Used in the %files list to direct RPM to handle certain files in a specific way.
Conditionals — Permit operating system- or architecture-specific preprocessing of the spec file.
Let's start by looking at comments.
Comments are a way to make RPM ignore a line in the spec file. The contents of a comment line are entirely up to the person writing the spec file.
To create a comment, enter an octothorp (#) at the start of the line. Any text following the comment character will be ignored by RPM. Here's an example comment:
# This is the spec file for playmidi 2.3...
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