How to Create an RPM Package

In this blog, I'm going to teach you how to create an RPM package.

1. Create a simple hello.cpp

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
    cout << "Hello World" << endl;
    return 0;
}

2. Create a Makefile

CC = g++ 
CCFLAGS = -g -Wall
SRC = hello.cpp
TARGET = hello

.PHONY: clean install

all: hello

install: $(TARGET)
    if [ -d ${DESTDIR} ]; then rm -rf ${DESTDIR}; fi
    mkdir -p ${DESTDIR}
    cp $(TARGET) ${DESTDIR} 

hello: 
    $(CC) $(CCFLAGS) -o $(TARGET) $(SRC)

clean:
    rm -rf $(TARGET)

3. Put hello.cpp and the Makefile in a directory structure like this

/home/foobar/hello/Makefile
                  /hello.cpp

4. Create a tarball of hello project

cd /home/foobar
tar czvf hello-0.1.tar.gz hello/

5. Create an rpmbuild directory

mkdir -p /home/foobar/rpmbuild

6. Create BUILD  BUILDROOT  RPMS  SOURCES  SPECS  SRPMS directories inside the /home/foobar/rpmbuild directory
BUILD --> the source files are unpacked and compiled here
BUILDROOT --> files are installed here
RPMS --> binary RPMs are created here
SOURCES --> source tarballs
SPECS --> spec files
SRPMS --> source RPMs
7. Create a spec file in the /hom/foobar/rpmbuild/SPECS/hello.spec

Summary             : Hello World program
Name                : hello
Version             : 0.1 
Release             : 1%{?dist}
License             : GPLv3+
Source              : %{name}-%{version}.tar.gz

%description
A simple Hello World program

%prep
%setup -q -n %{name}

%build
make

%install
make install DESTDIR="%{buildroot}%{_bindir}"

%files
%{_bindir}/hello

%prep --> this stage calls %setup to unpack hello-0.1.tar.gz to /home/foobar/rpmbuild/BUILD/hello. %{name} is a macro variable that substitutes to hello

%build --> this stage calls "make" in the /home/foobar/rpmbuild/BUILD/hello to create a hello executable

%install --> this stage calls "make install" to install the files into /home/foobar/rpmbuild/BUILDROOT/usr/bin. %{buildroot} is a macro variable that substitutes to /home/foobar/rpmbuild/BUILDROOT. Make sure the Makefile supports DESTDIR argument

%files --> lists all the files to be installed. %{_bindir} is a macro variablesubstitutes to /usr/bin. In this example, only hello executable needs to be installed into /usr/bin

8. Build the source and binary RPMs

rpmbuild -ba /home/foobar/SPECS/hello.spec

-ba option means build all (prep, build, install)
The binary RPM will be created in /home/foobar/rpmbuild/RPMS
The source RPM will be created in /home/foobar/rpmbuild/SRPMS
9. Install the newly created binary RPM

sudo rpm -ivh hello-0.1-1.fc16.i686.rpm

10. Test if hello program was successfully installed

hello

You should see "Hello World" output
11. Remove the hello package

sudo rpm -e hello