rpmbuild {-ba|-bb|-bp|-bc|-bi|-bl|-bs} [rpmbuild-options] SPECFILE ...

rpmbuild {-ta|-tb|-tp|-tc|-ti|-tl|-ts} [rpmbuild-options] TARBALL ...

rpmbuild {--rebuild|--recompile} SOURCEPKG ...

rpmbuild --showrc

[--buildroot DIRECTORY] [--clean] [--nobuild] [--rmsource] [--rmspec] [--short-circuit] [--sign] [--target PLATFORM]

These options can be used in all the different modes.

-?, --help

Print a longer usage message then normal.

--version

Print a single line containing the version number of rpm being used.

--quiet

Print as little as possible - normally only error messages will be displayed.

-v

Print verbose information - normally routine progress messages will be displayed.

-vv

Print lots of ugly debugging information.

--rcfile FILELIST

Each of the files in the colon separated FILELIST is read sequentially by rpm for configuration information. Only the first file in the list must exist, and tildes will be expanded to the value of $HOME. The default FILELIST is /usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc:/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/rpmrc:/etc/rpmrc:~/.rpmrc.

--pipe CMD

Pipes the output of rpm to the command CMD.

--dbpath DIRECTORY

Use the database in DIRECTORY rather than the default path /var/lib/rpm

--root DIRECTORY

Use the file system tree rooted at DIRECTORY for all operations. Note that this means the database within DIRECTORY will be used for dependency checks and any scriptlet(s) (e.g. %post if installing, or %prep if building, a package) will be run after a chroot(2) to DIRECTORY.

The general form of an rpm build command is

rpmbuild -bSTAGE|-tSTAGE [ rpmbuild-options ] FILE ...

The argument used is -b if a spec file is being used to build the package and -t if rpmbuild should look inside of a (possibly compressed) tar file for the spec file to use. After the first argument, the next character (STAGE) specifies the stages of building and packaging to be done and is one of:

-ba

Build binary and source packages (after doing the %prep, %build, and %install stages).

-bb

Build a binary package (after doing the %prep, %build, and %install stages).

-bp

Executes the "%prep" stage from the spec file. Normally this involves unpacking the sources and applying any patches.

-bc

Do the "%build" stage from the spec file (after doing the %prep stage). This generally involves the equivalent of a "make".

-bi

Do the "%install" stage from the spec file (after doing the %prep and %build stages). This generally involves the equivalent of a "make install".

-bl

Do a "list check". The "%files" section from the spec file is macro expanded, and checks are made to verify that each file exists.

-bs

Build just the source package.

The following options may also be used:

--buildroot DIRECTORY

When building a package, override the BuildRoot tag with directory DIRECTORY.

--clean

Remove the build tree after the packages are made.

--nobuild

Do not execute any build stages. Useful for testing out spec files.

--rmsource

Remove the sources after the build (may also be used standalone, e.g. "rpmbuild --rmsource foo.spec").

--rmspec

Remove the spec file after the build (may also be used standalone, eg. "rpmbuild --rmspec foo.spec").

--short-circuit

Skip straight to specified stage (i.e., skip all stages leading up to the specified stage). Only valid with -bc and -bi.

--sign

Embed a GPG signature in the package. This signature can be used to verify the integrity and the origin of the package. See the section on GPG SIGNATURES in rpm(8) for configuration details.

--target PLATFORM

When building the package, interpret PLATFORM as arch-vendor-os and set the macros %_target, %_target_cpu, and %_target_os accordingly.

There are two other ways to invoke building with rpm:

rpmbuild --rebuild|--recompile SOURCEPKG ...

When invoked this way, rpmbuild installs the named source package, and does a prep, compile and install. In addition, --rebuild builds a new binary package. When the build has completed, the build directory is removed (as in --clean) and the the sources and spec file for the package are removed.

The command

rpmbuild --showrc

shows the values rpmbuild will use for all of the options are currently set in rpmrc and macros configuration file(s).

/usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc
/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/rpmrc
/etc/rpmrc
~/.rpmrc

/usr/lib/rpm/macros
/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/macros
/etc/rpm/macros
~/.rpmmacros

/var/lib/rpm/Basenames
/var/lib/rpm/Conflictname
/var/lib/rpm/Dirnames
/var/lib/rpm/Filemd5s
/var/lib/rpm/Group
/var/lib/rpm/Installtid
/var/lib/rpm/Name
/var/lib/rpm/Packages
/var/lib/rpm/Providename
/var/lib/rpm/Provideversion
/var/lib/rpm/Pubkeys
/var/lib/rpm/Removed
/var/lib/rpm/Requirename
/var/lib/rpm/Requireversion
/var/lib/rpm/Sha1header
/var/lib/rpm/Sigmd5
/var/lib/rpm/Triggername

/var/tmp/rpm*