RPM-SPEC(5)

NAME #

rpm-spec - RPM spec file format

SYNOPSIS #

DESCRIPTION #

An RPM spec file is a plain-text recipe for building one or more software packages in the RPM format, in an automated, non-interactive and repeateable manner, by using rpmbuild(1). See also rpm-design(7) for some background.

Each spec defines at least one package, known as the main package, whose name and versioning information both the source and binary packages share. The source package contains all the spec file itself, and all the sources and patches declared in it. Binary packages are produced by building the source package, as instructed by the spec. The binary content is commonly split into further sub-packages to make packages easier to consume both size and dependency-wise.

The spec consists of multiple different, named blocks. The first block is called the PREAMBLE, followed by one or more SECTIONS. Sections start with a directive line that consists of the section name prefixed with the percent sign (%), followed by optional arguments. Each block implicitly ends when another one starts, or when explicitly terminated with the %end directive.

The spec file is parsed linearly from top to bottom. In most blocks, empty and whitespace-only lines are ignored and lines starting with # are considered comments. Except lines in the false branch of CONDITIONALS, every spec line is macro-expanded before further processing, including comment lines.

PREAMBLE #

The preamble consists of tag:value pairs, one tag per line. Tags accepting multiple values on one line can also appear multiple times within a package.

A Properties line documents various characteristics of the tag or section:

• D: Defines macro by the same name (uppercase on first encounter, lowercase for all except Patch and Source)
• I: Informative, only used for displaying
• M: Macro settable via rpmbuild-config(5)
• O: Obsolete, do not use
• R: Required tag/section
• X: Exclusive to PREAMBLE
• b: Stored in the binary packages
• s: Stored in the source package
• t: Build-time transient, not stored in packages

AutoReq: BOOLEAN

Control per-package automatic dependency generation for Requires dependencies. Defaults to on.

Usually it's better to disable/filter specific problematic dependencies than everything. See rpm-dependency-generators(7).

Properties: t

AutoReq: 0

AutoProv: BOOLEAN

Control per-package automatic dependency generation for Provides capabilities. Default to on.

Usually it's better to disable/filter specific problematic dependencies than everything. See rpm-dependency-generators(7).

Properties: t

AutoProv: 0

AutoReqProv: BOOLEAN

AutoReqProv is equal to specifying both AutoReq and AutoProv to the same value.

Properties: t

AutoReqProv: no

BugURL: URL

Bug reporting URL for the package. Usually set via rpmbuild-config(5).

Properties: DIM

BugURL: https://bugzilla.mydistro.org

BuildArch: ARCH ...

Architecture of this package, known to RPM through rpm-rpmrc(5) configuration. Normally the built package architecture is determined from the running system or --target option to rpmbuild(1), but BuildArch allows locking it to a predetermined value. The most common use is noarch for architecture independent content.

As a special case, BuildArch: noarch can also be used in a sub-package to indicate architecture independent content such as documentation in an otherwise architecture specific package.

For historical reasons, this field accepts multiple values but only the first one is used.

Properties: bs

BuildArch: noarch

BuildConflicts: CAPABILITY ...

Capabilities which cannot be installed during the package build. Resolved before building the package.

Properties: s

BuildConflicts: somelib-devel

BuildPreReq: CAPABILITY ...

Obsolete. Use BuildRequires instead.

Properties: Os

BuildRequires: CAPABILITY ...

Capabilities required to build the package. Resolved before building the package.

Properties: s

BuildRequires: e2fsprogs-devel >= 1.17-1

BuildRoot: PATH

Obsolete. Silently ignored in RPM >= 4.6.0.

Properties: OPt

BuildOption[(BUILDSCRIPT)]: OPTION

Declarative buildsystem option for BUILDSCRIPT. See Build scriptlets for valid names, used without the preceding % here.

Properties: t

BuildOption(conf): --enable-fu

BuildSystem: NAME

Use declarative buildsystem NAME to build the package. Buildsystems are inherently distribution specific.

Properties: DXt

Buildsystem: cmake

Conflicts: CAPABILITY ...

See rpm-dependencies(7).

Properties: b

Conflicts: another-tool <= 4.0

Distribution: TEXT

Distribution name.

Properties: DIMbs

DistTag: TEXT

Short label for identifying a distribution and its version.

Properties: DIMbs

DocDir: PATH

Declare a non-default documentation directory for the package. Rarely needed.

Properties: ???t

Enhances[(MODIFIERS)]: CAPABILITY ...

See rpm-dependencies(7).

Properties: b

Epoch: N

Artificial versioning override. See rpm-version(7).

Properties: Dbs

Epoch: 1

ExcludeArch: ARCH ...

Package is not buildable on architectures listed here. Used when software is portable across most architectures except some, for example due to endianness issues.

Properties: t

ExcludeArch: s390x

ExclusiveArch: ARCH ...

Package is only buildable on architectures listed here. Used for software that is inherently architecture specific.

Properties: t

ExclusiveArch: s390x

ExcludeOS: OS ...

Package is not buildable on operating systems listed here.

Properties: t

ExcludeOS: AIX

ExclusiveOS: OS ...

Package is only buildable on operating systems listed here.

Properties: t

ExclusiveOS: Linux

Group[(LANG)]: TEXT

Group of the package.

Properties: DIbs

Group: Development/Libraries

License: TEXT

Short summary of the package license. Use of SPDX license identifiers is recommended.

Properties: DIRbs

License: GPLv3-only

ModularityLabel: TEXT

Obsolete.

Properties: DIMObs

Name: NAME

The full name of the package. Permitted characters are alphanumerics and -, _, ., +.

Properties: DRXbs

Name: mypackage

NoPatch: N ...

Exclude patch number N from being included in source RPMs generated from this spec. Causes the source RPM to be called nosrc.

Properties: t

Patch5: proprietary-tool-3.0-memleak.patch
NoPatch: 5

NoSource: N ...

Exclude source number N from being included in source RPMs generated from this spec. Causes the source RPM to be called nosrc.

Properties: t

Source1: proprietary-tool-3.0.zip
Source2: proprietary-data-3.0.zip
NoSource: 1 2

Obsoletes: CAPABILITY ...

See rpm-dependencies(7).

Properties: bs

Obsoletes: oldtool < 3.0

OrderWithRequires: CAPABILITY ...

See rpm-dependencies(7).

Properties: b

Packager: TEXT

Maintainer contact information.

Properties: DIMbs

Patch[N]: [URL/]FILE

Used to declare patches applied on top of sources. All declared patches are included in a source RPM, unless excluded with NoPatch. The URL part is ignored, FILE is interpreted as a file in the %{SOURCEDIR} directory.

Patch numbers do not need to be consecutive and may include leading zeroes. Non-numbered patch tag Patch: is also supported and is automatically assigned the next available patch integer.

Patch numbers are separate from source numbers.

Properties: Ds

See also %patchlist.

PreReq: CAPABILITY ...

Obsolete. Use Requires(pre,postun) for a similar effect.

Properties: Ob

Prefix: PATH

Compatibility alias for Prefixes.

Properties: Db

Prefixes: PATH ...

Specify relocatable prefixes in this package. Such prefixes can be relocated to user-specified directories with --relocate option of rpm(8) at install time. The prefix information is also available to rpm-scriptlets(7).

Note: most software will only work correctly in the path specified during build.

Properties: Db

Prefixes: /usr /etc

Provides: CAPABILITY ...

See rpm-dependencies(7).

Properties: b

Recommends[(MODIFIERS)]: CAPABILITY ...

See rpm-dependencies(7).

Properties: b

Release: VERREL

The downstream packaging revision of a software version. See rpm-version(7).

Properties: DRSbs

Release: 1

RemovePathPostfixes: POSTFIX1[:POSTFIX2 ...]

Colon separated lists of path postfixes that are removed from the end of filenames when adding those files to the package. Used on sub-package level.

Used for creating sub-packages with conflicting files, such as different variants of the same content (eg minimal and full versions of the same software).

Properties: t

%package minimal
RemovePathPostfixes: .minimal

%package full
RemovePathPostfixes: .full

Requires[(MODIFIERS)]: CAPABILITY ...

See rpm-dependencies(7).

Properties: b

Source[N]: [URL/]FILE

Used to declare source(s) used to build the package. All declared sources are included in a source RPM, unless excluded with NoSource. The URL part is ignored, FILE is interpreted as a file in the %{SOURCEDIR} directory.

Arbitrary number of sources may be declared, for example:

Source0: mysoft-1.0.tar.gz
Source1: mysoft-data-1.0.zip

Source numbers do not need to be consecutive and may include leading zeroes. Non-numbered source tag Source: is also supported and is automatically assigned the next available source integer.

Source numbers are separate from patch numbers.

Properties: Ds

See also %sourcelist.

SourceLicense: TEXT

Short summary of the source license if it differs from the binary package license.

Use of SPDX license identifiers is recommended.

Properties: DIs

License: GPLv3-only

Suggests[(MODIFIERS)]: CAPABILITY ...

See rpm-dependencies(7).

Properties: b

Summary[(LANG)]: TEXT

Short summary of the package.

Properties: DIRbs

Summary: Utility for converting mumbles into giggles

Supplements[(MODIFIERS)]: CAPABILITY ...

See rpm-dependencies(7).

Properties: b

TranslationURL: URL

URL of upstream translation service/repository.

Properties: DIMbs

UpstreamReleases: URL

URL to upstream releases.

Properties: DIMbs

URL: URL

URL supplying further information about the package, typically the project upstream website.

Properties: DIbs

URL: https://rpm.org

VCS: TEXT

Upstream source code version control system location.

Properties: Ibs

Vendor: TEXT

Vendor name.

Properties: DIMbs

Version: VERREL

The version of the package, typically the (upstream) software version. When the version changes, Release should be reset. See rpm-version(7).

Properties: DRbs

SECTIONS #

%changelog

The changelog is for describing changes to the spec over time. A copy of the changelog is included in all packages built from the spec.

The general form of the %changelog is a header line starting with *, followed by one or more message lines starting with -:

Two forms of a header line are supported:

WEEKDAY MONTH DAY YEAR EMAIL

WEEKDAY MONTH DAY TIME TZ YEAR EMAIL

WEEKDAY is the three letter abbreviation of day of week in English. MONTH is the three letter abbreviation of month name in English. DAY is the day of month, YEAR is the year. If specified, TIME is in 24h format and TZ is relative UTC. EMAIL is the standard "First Lastname <user@domain>" email contact format.

Properties: bs

* Mon May 11 2026 Joe Doe <joedoe@example.org>
- split libraries into their own sub-package

* Thu May 7 17:05:00 UTC+2 Joe Doe <joedoe@example.org>
- initial packaging
- working overtime, see?

%description [-l LANG] [-n] [SUBNAME]

A multiline description of the (sub-)package for human audiences. Required for all packages.

-l LOCALE

Description is for locale(7) LANG.

-n

Interpret SUBNAME as the full package name.

Properties: bs

%description devel
Development libraries and headers for %{NAME}.

%files [-n] [SUBNAME] [-f FILE [-f FILE ...]]

A manifest describing the files in the (sub-)package.

-f FILE

Additional files manifest to be read from disk after the build scripts have completed. May be supplied multiple times.

-n

Interpret SUBNAME as the full package name.

Binary packages are only produced for packages with a %files section, whether they contain any files or not. This is useful for conditional sub-package generation: only the %files section needs to be conditionalized.

Properties: b

The section format is one glob(7) entry per line, optionally preceded by attribute directives that apply to all the matching files:

[ATTRIBUTE ...] GLOB

The attributes fall roughly into three categories: concrete, semantic and verification attributes:

%artifact

Denotes files that are more like side-effects of packaging than actual content the user would be interested in. Such files can be easily filtered out on queries and also left out of installations if space is tight.

Added: 4.14.1

%attr(MODE, USER, GROUP)

Override the permissions for a single GLOB. MODE is an octal number such as you'd pass to chmod(1). USER and GROUP are user and group names such as you'd pass to chown(1). Non-root USER and GROUP cause additional dependencies to be added to the package, see rpm-sysusers(7).

Parameters may be omitted by specifying them as -, in which case the default value is used for that parameter.

%ghost

Indicates that this file is not to be included in the package. It is typically used when the attributes of the file are important while the contents is not (e.g. a log file).

%config[(MODIFIERS)]

Indicates a configuration file whose contents need tracking for local changes.

Supported %config MODIFIERS are:

• missingok: Non-present file does not cause verify failure.
• noreplace: Don't replace a locally modified file.

If a %config file replaces an existing file on install, the original file is saved with .rpmorig suffix. A modified %config file is backed up with .rpmsave suffix on erase. A locally modified %config(noreplace) is preserved as-is on package updates, but the new content from the package is saved with .rpmnew suffix for reference.

%defattr(MODE, USER, GROUP[, DIRMODE])

Set the default permissions and ownership for any following GLOB entries in the manifest. MODE, USER and GROUP are identical to the corresponding %attr() parameters, DIRMODE is identical to MODE but used for any directory entries.

%dir

Used to explicitly own the directory itself but not its contents.

%doc

Used to mark and/or install files as documentation.

Can be used as a regular attribute on an absolute path, or in “special” form on a path relative to the build directory which causes the files to be installed and packaged as documentation. The special form strips all but the last path component. Thus %doc path/to/docfile installs docfile in the documentation path.

%license

Used to mark and/or install files as licenses.

Similar to %doc and can be used with absolute or "special" forms.

Added: 4.11.0

%missingok

Used to mark file presence optional, ie one whose absence does not cause verify to fail.

Added: 4.14.0 (in standalone form)

%readme

Used to mark a README file.

%verify[(MODIFIERS)]

Tell -–verify to ignore certain features on files. Used to avoid false positives from files that are expected to be modified in certain ways.

Supported modifiers are:

• filedigest
• size
• link
• user (or owner)
• group
• mtime
• mode
• rdev
• caps

%verify(not size filedigest mtime) %{prefix}/bin/javaswarm

%caps(CAPABILITY)

Sets the given POSIX.1e draft 15 capabilities(7) on the file. CAPABILITY is the textual representation of capability sets as described in cap_text_formats(7).

This feature is only available if RPM was built with libcap support. On Linux, file capabilities are only available since the kernel version 2.6.24. Many filesystems (such as NFS) do not support capabilities at all, which can cause install-time failures and/or incorrectly functioning packages when such filesystems are in use.

%caps(cap_net_raw=p) %{_bindir}/ping

GLOB

The usual rules for shell globbing (see glob(7)) apply, including brace expansion. Metacharacters can be escaped by prefixing them with a backslash (\​). Spaces are used to separate filenames and must also be escaped.

Enclosing a filename in double quotes (") preserves the literal value of all characters within the quotes, with the exception of \​ and the percent sign (%). A \​ or % can be escaped with an extra \​ or %, respectively. A double quote can be escaped with a \​.

If a glob pattern has no matches, it is tried literally (as if all the metacharacters were escaped). This is similar to how bash(1) works with the failglob option unset.

By default, package files and directories are owned by root:root and their permission bits are taken from the on-disk files, ie. an implicit %defattr(-,root,root).

For example:

%doc README
%license COPYING

%config(noreplace) %{_sysconfdir}/my.conf
%{_bindir}/myprog
%{_libdir}/%{name}/my*.so.*
%{_mandir}/man1/myprog.1*

/opt/are.you|bob?
/opt/bob's*htdocs*
/opt/bob's%%htdocs%%
"/opt/bob's htdocs"

%package [-n] SUBNAME

Declare a sub-package. See PREAMBLE for the syntax and accepted tags.

By default, SUBNAME sub-package names are formed by appending SUBNAME to the main package name, separated by dash: NAME-SUBNAME.

-n

Interpret SUBNAME as the full package name.

Properties: b

Name: myproj
Summary: main binaries for myproj
...

%package libs
Summary: shared libraries for myproj

%patchlist

List of patch files, one per line.

Identical to using non-numbered Patch: lines.

Properties: s

%patchlist
myproj-1.0-memleak.patch
myproj-1.0-crashbug.patch

%sourcelist

List of source files, one per line.

Identical to using non-numbered Source: lines.

Properties: s

%sourcelist
mysoft-1.0.tar.gz
mysoft-data-1.0.zip

%install
%make_install

CONDITIONALS #

The spec supports several conditionals which can appear anywhere in the spec, and can nest.

Caution should be exercised in using conditionals. They make the spec harder to read, and can cause unwanted side-effects. For example, conditionalizing a patch declaration can cause the patch to be omitted from the source archive, creating an incomplete source package which cannot be rebuilt in all situations otherwise supported by the spec.

%if EXPRESSION

Begins a free-form conditional.

%ifarch ARCH ...

Begins an architecture conditional: enter block if building on one of the ARCH architectures.

%ifnarch ARCH ...

Begins an architecture conditional. Reverse of ifarch: enter block if not building on one of the ARCH architectures.

%ifos OS ...

Begins an operating system conditional: enter block if building on one of the OS operating systems.

%ifnos OS ...

Begins an operating system conditional. Reverse of %ifnos: enter block if not building on one of the OS operating systems.

%elif EXPRESSION

Same as %if, but enter block if previous conditional was false.

%elifarch ARCH ...

Same as %ifarch, but enter block if previous conditional was false.

%elifos OS ...

Same as %ifos, but enter block if previous conditional was false.

%else

Final else-clause, entered if no other conditional was true.

%endif

Ends a conditional block for all the %if variants.

ARGUMENTS #

ARCH

A computer architecture label known to RPM. See rpm-rpmrc(5).

BOOLEAN

{1|0|yes|no}

CAPABILITY

See rpm-dependencies(7).

EXPRESSION

See Expression expansion in rpm-macros(7).

FILE

A relative filename, typically just the basename component.

LANG

locale(7) language name.

MODIFIERS

A comma-separated list of (context-specific) modifier names.

MULTILINE

Free-form multi-line text.

N

A natural number in the set of {0, 1, 2, ...}.

NAME

The name part of a CAPABILITY. See rpm-dependencies(7).

OS

An operating system label known to RPM. See rpm-rpmrc(5).

PATH

An absolute pathname.

TEXT

Free-form line of text, preferably under 70 characters to avoid line-wrapping in common usage contexts.

URL

A uniform resource locator (URL), colloquially known as a web address.

VERREL

A string conforming to the restrictions of Version and Release rpm-version(7) components.

EXAMPLES #

Name: mini
Version: 1.0
Release: 1
License: MIT
Summary: Minimal spec
BuildArch: noarch

%description
A minimal spec file.

%files

Name: hello
Version: 2.0
Release: 1
License: MIT
Summary: Hello world demo package
Source: https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpm/blob/master/tests/data/SOURCES/hello-2.0.tar.gz

%description
The purpose of this package is to demonstrate RPM packaging.
It has no real-world use value beyond education and testing.
%end

# unpack sources, without %end this comment would end up in description
%prep
%autosetup

%conf
%configure

%build
# make -j${RPM_BUILD_NCPUS}
%make_build

%install
# make install DESTDIR=${RPM_BUILD_ROOT}
%make_install

%files
%{_bindir}/hello

%changelog
* Mon May 11 2026 Joe Doe <joedoe@example.org>
- Initial packaging

SEE ALSO #

rpmbuild(1) rpm-version(7) rpm-config(5) rpmbuild-config(5) rpmspec(1) rpm-lua(7) rpm-macros(7) rpm-spec-macros(7) rpm-dependencies(7) rpm-sysusers(7) rpm-scriptlets(7) rpm-dependency-generators(7) rpm-design(7) rpm(8)

http://www.rpm.org/