Understanding how rpmbuild works

Posted by ereOn on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by ereOn
Published on 2010-05-12T09:11:18Z Indexed on 2010/05/12 9:14 UTC
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rpm

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rpmbuild

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linux

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redhat

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packages

Hi,

For my work, I have to create a documentation on "How-to create a RPM package on Red Hat 5".

I'm used to Debian and it's derivative (Ubuntu, and so on) and thus to Debian packages (aka. .deb files).

It seems that the RPM logic is quite different from what I know already and I am having some issues understanding the "RPM logic".

From what I read, it seems that ones need to be root to create a RPM package. While I understand why root could be required to install a package, I still don't understand why elevated privileges should be needed to just create one.

If I try to create a RPM package as a user, changing the buildroot it fails on the %installstep because I don't have permission to write files into /usr/bin. Fair enough but... why does he want to copy my files into /usr/bin at this step ?! I just want to create the package, not install it !

I'm sure I'm missing something here. Is there anyone who could give me at least a basic understanding of how rpmbuild works and why ?

Thank you very much !

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