RPM-for-Unix HOW-TO

RPM-for-Unix HOW-TOAl Dev (Alavoor Vasudevan) v1.8, 27 Mar 2002This document will help you to setup Redhat RPM program on various Unix operating systems like Solaris, AIX, Irix, HPUX and many others. The information in this document applies to all flavors of Unix like - Solaris, HPUX, AIX, SCO, Sinix, BSD, NetBSD, Apple Macintosh (which is BSD), UnixWare, etc.. and may be useful to other operating systems (MS Windows 2000) which support "C" compiler.Introduction

(The latest version of this document is at . You may want to check there for changes).

Redhat RPM program is the key program to install Redhat Linux Source RPMs. There are more than 8000 Redhat application programs available on the internet in rpm source-code format. If you just install rpm program on other flavors of Unix like Solaris, AIX, Irix or HPUX, then you can very easily compile, build and install any of those 8000 application source RPMs.

RPM is the "gateway" to thousands of applications and programs, which are in source code rpm format.

Maintainence of application programs is extremely easy with RPM program. You can very easily remove, add and upgrade the application package from the system. Using RPM program you can query the system to find the list of packages installed and you can even list the files installed by a particular package. RPM program can also give the exact path locations of the files installed by a particular package.

The upgrades and updates can be automated using the rpm program and the Redhat Network support.

The redhat rpm program is extremely powerful, extremely easy to use and is the most popular packaging program in the world. Packaging programs on other Unix platforms like pkgadd, smitt are very primitive and are not as powerful as rpm program. And rpm program is very portable and works on most Unix operating systems.

The guidelines given here can be useful for setting up Debian package program deb on Solaris and other Unix flavors. GNU Debian Linux is another popular distribution and uses deb program which is similar to rpm program . You can use either rpm or deb program.

Install RPM

To install RPM program you need gcc and BerkeleyDB. First you should decide the version of Redhat Linux which you want to use. The versions of Redhat Linux are 7.1 (latest), 6.2, 5.x (old versions).

To build rpm package you need atleast BerkeleyDB and gcc compiler. It is very important that you MUST select proper versions of gcc, BerkeleyDB and RPM source based on whether you want to represent Redhat 7.1, Redhat 6.2 or 5.x. If you happen to have a Redhat Linux box then do - bash$ rpm -qa | grep -i gcc bash$ rpm -qi gcc-2.96-81 bash$ rpm -qa | grep -i db3 bash$ rpm -qi db3-3.1.17-7 bash$ rpm -qa | grep -i rpm bash$ rpm -qi rpm-4.0.2-8 From above, you can get the proper version numbers.

WARNING: If you do not use proper version numbers of gcc, db3 and rpm combinations then RPM program may not compile or work properly..

For example - to target Redhat Linux 7.1 on Solaris, you should use gcc version 2.96, Sleepycat Berkeley DB version 3.1.17 and RPM source version 4.0.2. Any other combination of versions WILL NOT work.

You can see the list of files and programs needed to build rpm. Login on linux box and: bash$ rpm -qR rpm-4.0.2-8 gawk fileutils textutils mktemp popt glibc ent= 2.1.92 db1 = 1.85 /bin/sh /bin/sh /sbin/ldconfig ld-linux.so.2 libbz2.so.1 libc.so.6 libdb-3.1.so libdb.so.2 libpopt.so.0 librpm.so.0 librpmbuild.so.0 librpmio.so.0 libz.so.1 /bin/sh libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.0) libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.1) libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.1.3) libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.2) libdb.so.2(GLIBC_2.0) rpmlib(CompressedFileNames) ent= 3.0.4-1 bash$ To see to which package gawk belongs to do: bash$ rpm -qif /usr/bin/gawk Name : gawk Relocations: (not relocateable) Version : 3.0.6 Vendor: Red Hat, Inc. Group : Applications/Text Source RPM: gawk-3.0.6-1.src.rpm

Get Gnu "gcc"

First, you need to install the Gnu C compiler gcc. You can use one of the following three sources: Unix gcc package from , , , , , .

Redhat source rpm from cdrom or from or from

Download binaries from or where you can find .

If you downloaded Solaris/Unix package: # su - root # man pkgadd # pkgadd -d gcc-sparc*.pkg

If you downloaded rpm package: bash$ mkdir my_temp_build bash$ cd my_temp_build bash$ rpm2cpio gcc-*.src.rpm | cpio -dimv bash$ tar zxvf gcc*.tar.gz bash$ cd gcc-2.96 bash$ ./configure bash$ make

Get BerkeleyDB

Second, you need to install the BerkeleyDB embedded database from . RPM internally uses the embedded database BerkeleyDB to store the package information. You can use one of the following three sources: Redhat source rpm from cdrom or from or from

Download binaries from go here and see scroll down and select proper version like 3.1.17 (one which matches with Redhat Linux 7.1).

Unix gcc package from , , , , , .

If you downloaded source rpm or source tar.gz file: bash$ mkdir my_temp_build bash$ cd my_temp_build bash$ rpm2cpio db3-3.1.17-7.src.rpm | cpio -dimv bash$ tar zxvf db3*.tar.gz bash$ cd db3-3.1.17 bash$ cd build_unix bash$ ../dist/configure --enable-compat185 bash$ make bash$ make install

If you downloaded Unix package: # su - root # man pkgadd # pkgadd -d db-3*-sparc*.pkg

BerkeleyDB and gcc

Download BerkeleyDB and gcc for Unix as given below:

Solaris - BerkeleyDB and gcc

You can get gcc and BerkeleyDB for Solaris from: Solaris gcc package from

Sparc, Sun Solaris, Ultra Sparc

AIX - BerkeleyDB and gcc

You can get gcc and BerkeleyDB for AIX from: IBM main site and .

Univ of California AIX site

Norcal org site

Bull site

The PowerPC arch rpms are at .

IRIX Silicon Graphics - BerkeleyDB and gcc

You can get gcc and BerkeleyDB for SGI IRIX from: SGI main site

SGI freware alphabetical listing

HPUX - BerkeleyDB and gcc

You can get gcc and BerkeleyDB for HPUX from: Gnu gcc for HPUX

HPUX opensource tools and

HPUX Porting and Archive Center and and

UnixWare - BerkeleyDB and gcc

You can get gcc and BerkeleyDB for UnixWare from: FreeBird site

Skunkware site

Gnu gcc for and

Apple Macintosh OS X (Unix) - BerkeleyDB and gcc

You can get gcc and BerkeleyDB for Apple Macintosh OS X (which is BSD Unix) from: Gnu gcc for Apple Mac OS shipped with OS called "ProjectBuilder IDE" and

List of Opensource packages for Mac

See also Fink uses Debian tools like dpkg and apt-get to provide powerful binary package management.

Compiling RPM

After building Berkeley DB3 and gcc, compile rpm program now. Get rpm source code from one of the following two sources: Redhat source rpm from cdrom or from or from and look for proper version like 7.1

Download source code of rpm from go here and select proper version like 4.0.2 (one which matches with Redhat Linux 7.1). Download from .

If you downloaded rpm*.tar.gz file: bash$ mkdir my_temp_build bash$ cd my_temp_build bash$ tar zxvf rpm*.tar.gz bash$ cd rpm-4.0.2 bash$ export LIBS='-L/usr/local/BerkeleyDB.3.1/lib' bash$ export CPPFLAGS='-I/usr/local/BerkeleyDB.3.1/include' bash$ ./configure bash$ make

If you downloaded rpm source code file follow the steps below. But you may need rpm2cpio program, which is packaged in rpm package. Get rpm package (may be old version like 3.0) from . bash$ mkdir my_temp_build bash$ cd my_temp_build bash$ rpm2cpio rpm-4.0.2-8.src.rpm | cpio -dimv bash$ tar zxvf rpm*.tar.gz bash$ cd rpm-4.0.2 bash$ export LIBS='-L/usr/local/BerkeleyDB.3.1/lib' bash$ export CPPFLAGS='-I/usr/local/BerkeleyDB.3.1/include' bash$ ./configure bash$ make

Troubleshooting RPM Compile

If you encounter any problem in compiling rpm program, you may have to do some minor corrections.

In case of Solaris 8 and rpm v4.0.2, I got these problems: Error db3/db.h not found in lib/db3.c. Solution is - create a soft link: bash# ln -s /usr/local/BerkeleyDB.3.1.17/include /usr/include/db3 Or edit the file lib/db3.c and change #include entdb3/db.hent to #include entdb.hent

Edit Makefile and put -L before libmisc.a at line 186

Compile error in file rpmsort.c: Function errx() not found. Solution is - edit the file rpmsort.c and copy and paste the function errx() from misc/err*.c. Or comment out line having errx() and put fprintf(stderr, "Error encountered - blah, blah"); exit(0);

Using RPM

See also document.

Basic RPM Commands

In its simplest form, RPM can be used to install, erase or upgrade packages: bash# rpm -i foobar-1.0-1.i386.rpm ...(to install packages) bash# rpm -i ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/RPMS/foo-1.0-1.i386.rpm ...(to install package via ftp) bash# rpm -e foobar ...(to uninstall package) bash# rpm -U foobar-1.0-1.i386.rpm ...(to upgrade package) bash# rpm --help ...(to see help on rpm options) bash# man rpm ...(to read online manual page)

RPM Build Commands

To build rpm packages bash# rpm -i foobar*.src.rpm bash# cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS bash# rpm -ba foobar-1.0-1.spec To build in incremental steps, do: bash# rpm -bp foobar-1.0-1.spec ...( to do prep stage) bash# rpm --short-circuit -bc foobar-1.0-1.spec ...( to do build stage) bash# rpm --short-circuit -bi foobar-1.0-1.spec ...( to do install stage) bash# rpm -ba foobar-1.0-1.spec ... (to do binary and source package)

RPM Query Commands

You can query the rpm database with these powerful commands: bash$ rpm -qpl foobar-1.0-1.i386.rpm ....(list of files in a rpm package) bash$ rpm -ql foobar-1.0-1 ....(list of files from already installed package) bash$ rpm -qpR foobar-1.0-1.i386.rpm ....(list packages on which this package depends) bash$ rpm -qR foobar-1.0-1 ....(list packages on which this installed package depends) bash$ # rpm -q foo ...(print package name, version, and release number of package foo) foo-2.0-1 bash$ rpm -qa | less ....(list all the installed package) bash$ rpm -qa | grep -i kde ....(list all the installed package matching kde) bash$ rpm -qif /bin/ls ....(list the package which installed the file /bin/ls) To show the values RPM will use for all of the options that may be set in rpmrc files (/usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc, /etc/rpmrc, ~/.rpmrc ), type: bash$ rpm --showrc | less

RPM Verify Commands

Verifying a package compares information about files installed from a package with the same information from the original package. Among other things, verifying compares the size, MD5 sum, permissions, type, owner and group of each file.

The command rpm -V verifies a package. You can use any of the Package Selection Options listed for querying to specify the packages you wish to verify. A simple use is rpm -V foo which verifies that all the files in the foo package are as they were when they were originally installed. For example:

bash$ rpm -Vf /bin/vi ...(To verify a package containing particular file) bash$ rpm -Va ...(To verify ALL installed packages) bash$ rpm -Vp foo-1.0-1.i386.rpm ...(To verify an installed package against an RPM package file) This can be useful if you suspect that your RPM databases are corrupt.

If everything verified properly there will be no output. If there are any discrepancies they will be displayed. The format of the output is a string of 8 characters, a possible "c" denoting a configuration file, and then the file name. Each of the 8 characters denotes the result of a comparison of one attribute of the file to the value of that attribute recorded in the RPM database. A single "." (period) means the test passed. The following characters denote failure of certain tests: 5 -- MD5 checksum S -- File size L -- Symbolic link T -- File modification time D -- Device U -- User G -- Group M -- Mode (includes permissions and file type) ? -- Unreadable file If you see any output, use your best judgment to determine if you should remove or reinstall the package, or otherwise fix the problem.

Installing 8000 RPMs

Once RPM program is installed, it is a gateway to thousands of RPM packages which can be easily installed on the system.

Prepare the rpm directories bash# su - root bash# mkdir -p /usr/local/src/redhat/BUILD bash# mkdir -p /usr/local/src/redhat/RPMS/sparc64 bash# mkdir -p /usr/local/src/redhat/RPMS/noarch bash# mkdir -p /usr/local/src/redhat/SOURCES bash# mkdir -p /usr/local/src/redhat/SPECS bash# mkdir -p /usr/local/src/redhat/SRPMS

You may want to edit the rpmrc file. In case of solaris 8, I had to remove the -m64 option for gcc, since it was giving compile errors. To show the values, RPM will use for all of the options that may be set in rpmrc files (/usr/local/lib/rpm/rpmrc, /usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc, /etc/rpmrc, ent/.rpmrc ), type: bash$ rpm --showrc | less

Bootstrap Programs - The Rocket Soars Up!!

Before building rpms you need the following basic programs: install program from fileutils*.tar.gz patch*.tar.gz autoconf*.tar.gz automake*.tar.gz libtool*.tar.gz gcc*.tar.gz You should download the tar.gz files or . I downloaded solaris packages for fileutils.pkg, patch.pkg, libtool.pkg, gcc and others. You should install them in a temporary location like $HOME/localtmp bash# mkdir $HOME/localtmp bash# cd $HOME/localtmp bash# gzip -d libtool*.tar.gz bash# tar -xvf libtool*.tar bash# ./configure --with-prefix=$HOME/localtmp bash# make; make install You should include the temporary location of autoconf by: bash# PATH=$HOME/localtmp/bin:$PATH bash# export PATH

Install Foundation RPMs

There are few basic rpms which must be installed before any other rpm is installed. In this section, foundation rpms are listed which are found by using: bash# rpm -qR entpackagenameent bash# rpm -qR textinfo bash# rpm -qR fileutils bash# rpm -qR setup

The foundation rpms in the order of dependency are as follows: fileutils*.rpm grep*.rpm (You may have to edit grep.spec and commentout --without-included-regex) gawk*.rpm sed*.rpm texinfo*.rpm zlib*.rpm and zlib-devel patch*.rpm setup*.rpm filesystem*.rpm (You may not want install this if it effects /proc directory) textutils*.rpm glibc-common*.rpm basesystem*.rpm mktemp*.rpm bash*.rpm m4*.rpm (autoconf needs this) autoconf bison binutils ent= 2.9.1.0.25 gas, as, ld which are in binutils shutils - for 'id' command

Second stage foundation rpms are as follows. After installing the foundation rpms, next important rpm is gcc, the order of rpms you need is: glibc*.rpm binutils*.rpm kernel-headers*.rpm glibc-devel*.rpm gcc*.rpm

Third stage rpms are as follows: popt*.rpm rpm*.rpm perl*.rpm And many others....

As from previous section you should have exported temp location of autoconf, gcc and other programs by: bash# PATH=$HOME/localtmp/bin:$PATH bash# export PATH bash# rpm -i fileutils*.src.rpm bash# rpm -i zlib*.src.rpm bash# rpm -i texinfo*.src.rpm bash# cd /usr/local/src/redhat/SPECS bash# rpm -ba fileutils.spec

After the build is successful, install it with "nodeps and excludedocs" to minimize the failures. After substantial installations of many foundation rpms you can "freshen" the rpms with rpm command. bash# cd /usr/local/src/redhat/RPMS/sparc64 bash# rpm -i --nodeps --excludedocs fileutils*.rpm Move on to build and install the next rpm in the list texinfo, zlib, patch,....

Troubleshoot Building Foundation RPMs

On Solaris 2.8, I encountered following problems which were fixed by correcting the spec file: texinfo*.rpm: Edit the file texinfo.spec and change ententspecentinstallentpost, entbuild and entinstall sections: %define Rpmpath /usr/local %define __spec_install_post %{Rpmpath}/lib/rpm/brp-strip \; %{Rpmpath}/lib/rpm/brp-strip-comment-note \; rm -f %build %define _mandir %{_prefix}/share/man %define _infodir %{_prefix}/share/info %configure %install #mkdir -p ${RPM_BUILD_ROOT}/{etc,sbin} .....this line is causing problems mkdir -p ${RPM_BUILD_ROOT}/etc mkdir -p ${RPM_BUILD_ROOT}/sbin

textutils*.rpm: Create a new unix group called 'other'. Type 'groupadd other' and see 'man groupadd'. Second problem - edit textutils.spec file and in entfiles section replace hard-coded filenames/pathnames with entententprefixent.

%files
# replace below line
#/usr/bin/*
# with the line given below
%{_prefix}/bin/*

patch*.rpm: Edit patch.spec file and in entfiles section replace hard-coded filenames/pathnames with entententprefixent.

%files
# replace below line
#/usr/bin/*
# with the line given below
%{_prefix}/bin/*

gawk*.rpm: Edit gawk.spec file and in entfiles section and entinstall section replace hard-coded filenames/pathnames like /usr/something with entententprefixent/something.

m4*.rpm: Edit m4.spec file and in entbuild section, the configure takes only --prefix and --exec-prefix. Also comment out autoconf.

Create gcc RPM Package

The GNU gcc rpm is the most important rpm package which you should create after successfully creating rpm of RPM package. In order to create GNU gcc rpm package, you need to install rpms, unix pkgs or manual configure and install the following (given in order of dependency) : texinfo patch zlib and zlib-devel fileutils ent= 4.0.41 m4 ent= 1.1 (autoconf needs this) autoconf bison binutils ent= 2.9.1.0.25 gas, as, ld which are in binutils cpp - manual install gcc gawk shutils - for 'id' command pthreads - Posix threads library You should download the tar.gz files or . I downloaded solaris packages for texinfo.pkd, fileutils.pkg, patch.pkg, libtool.pkg, gcc and others. If you download tar.gz source file then you should install them in a temporary location like $HOME/localtmp bash# mkdir $HOME/localtmp bash# cd $HOME/localtmp bash# gzip -d libtool*.tar.gz bash# tar -xvf libtool*.tar bash# ./configure --with-prefix=$HOME/localtmp bash# make; make install You should include the temporary location of autoconf by: bash# PATH=$HOME/localtmp/bin:$PATH bash# export PATH

Now you are ready to build gcc rpm: bash# rpm -i gcc*.src.rpm bash# cd /usr/local/src/redhat/SPECS bash# rpm -ba gcc*.spec On Solaris 2.8 I had to make few changes to gcc*.spec file: In entbuild section : Insert --enable-hacker-mode option for configure command. This is to correct error - "This configuration not supported in solaris 2.8". If --enable-hacker-mode option does not work then you may have to comment out gccenttargetplatform within the code entifarch sparc .... entendif, just before the configure command.

In entbuild section : For the configure command comment out entententtargetentplatforment, if configure fails.

In entinstall section: Comment out numprocs = $(getconf entNPROCESSORS) and put numprocs=1. Since my box had 2 cpus I put numprocs=2. The solaris has /usr/bin/getconf which is different from GNU getconf in glibc. Setup shared lib in solaris:

 
solaris# cd /var/ld
solaris# man ld.so.1
solaris# man crle
solaris# crle  ent hit return to see config infoent
solaris# crle /usr/lib:/usr/local/lib:/usr/local/pgsql/lib:/usr/local/BerkeleyDB.3.1/lib

Solaris Sparc gcc, glibc, kernel-headers and binutils

You can download the source code rpm for sparc from or go to and type sparc in the search field. You can also download sparc-glibc, sparc-kernel-headers and sparc-binutils source rpms. solaris# rpm -i sparc-gcc*.src.rpm solaris# cd /usr/local/src/redhat/SPECS solaris# rpm -ba sparc-gcc.spec You may want to edit sparc-binutils.spec and in entinstall section: Comment out numprocs = $(getconf entNPROCESSORS) and put numprocs=1. Since my box had 2 cpus I put numprocs=2. The solaris has /usr/bin/getconf which is different from GNU getconf in glibc. Also change entfiles section change entdoc /usr/man/man1/sparc-linux-ld.1.gz to entdoc /usr/man/man1/sparc-linux-ld.1.

PowerPC gcc, glibc, kernel-headers and binutils

The PowerPC arch rpms are at .

Create glibc RPM

If configure complains that your platform is not supported, then you may want to edit glibc.spec file and in entconfigure section put --enable-hacker-mode,

For Solaris there is ready-made sparc-glibc*.src.rpm from or go to and type sparc in the search field.

The glibc needs the sparc-kernel-headers*.rpm which you can get from .

Use Debian Packages - Convert deb to rpm

Debian Linux is another popular distribution. You can use the debian packages for Sparc, PowerPC, m68k, MIPS, Alpha, Arm, Intel X86 or Itanium.

Debian Packing Program

To build real debs that contain software, you'll need: binutils, cpp, cpio, dpkg-dev, file, gcc, libc6-dev, make, patch, perl dh-make, debhelper, devscripts, fakeroot and lintian . If your package needs to prompt the user for configuration information when it installs, get debconf .

The main debian programs you need to get are: dpkg-dev : This package contains the tools needed to create Debian archives. It also contains the Debian Programmers and Policy manuals.

debmake : This is a higher level set of tools for creating Debian packages. It makes the whole process tremendously easier.

debhelper : A collection of programs that can be used in a debian/rules file to automate common tasks related to building debian packages. Programs are included to install various files into your package, compress files, fix file permissions, integrate your package with the debian menu system, suidmanager, doc-base, etc. Most debian packages use debhelper as part of their build process.

debconf : Debconf is a configuration management system for debian packages. Packages use Debconf to ask questions when they are installed.

apt-howto : A Guide to APT. This manual tries to be a quick but complete source of information about the APT system and its features. It documents the main uses of APT with many examples. (You may want to edit apt-howto*.sgml and change debiandoc to linuxdoc and run sgml2html).

Get these from , go here and type in the search box dpkg-dev or apt-howto and select Stable, Testing or Unstable in the distribution. Download and build on your Unix system (Solaris, AIX, HPUX).

See , Debian , Debian and .

Debian to Redhat RPM

To install Debian packages on Sun Solaris 2.8 (Sparc/Ultra-sparc) I downloaded all the debian packages for sparc from . Go here and click on distribution-entsparc. Better still, purchase the Debian binary and source cdrom for Sparc (or for PowerPC, Alpha). Use alien program to convert the debian packages to redhat rpm.

Get alien program from . solaris# rpm -i alien*.src.rpm solaris# rpm -ba alien.spec solaris# rpm -i alien.sparc.rpm solaris# alien -r glibc*.deb (..... this will create the rpm file) solaris# rpm -i glibc-sparc*.rpm Convert all debian binary packages to rpm and install on Solaris 2.8 OS.

Note alien program works only for binary debian packages.

Convert RPM to Solaris Package rpm2pkg

After building and installing all the RPMs on Solaris (or any Unix), you can convert those programs to Solaris (or any Unix) packages.

To convert Redhat rpm to Solaris package do: bash# mkdir -p $HOME/tmp/myprogram-1.4/usr/local bash# cd $HOME/tmp/myprogram-1.4/usr/local bash# rpm2cpio rpm-4.0.2-8.sparc64.rpm | cpio -dimv bash# tar -xvf rpm*.tar.gz bash# make_package

And run the perl script makeentpackage given at

Related URLs

Main site of RPM

Maximum RPM book

RPM HOWTO

RPM Finder

RPM related sofware

RPM mailing lists

Sparc, Sun Solaris, Ultra Sparc

The PowerPC arch rpms are at .

Linux goodies main site is at Mirror sites are at - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .