%{buildroot} vs $RPM_BUILD_ROOT

[Konstantin Riabitsev]

Hello:

Just a quick question -- I'm wondering which is considered "more
proper": %{buildroot} or $RPM_BUILD_ROOT? I tend to use %{buildroot} as
it is shorter and more consistent with the rest of the spec file, but
I'd like an official opinion. :)

Regards,

[Matthias Saou]

Post by Konstantin Riabitsev
Just a quick question -- I'm wondering which is considered "more
proper": %{buildroot} or $RPM_BUILD_ROOT? I tend to use %{buildroot} as
it is shorter and more consistent with the rest of the spec file, but
I'd like an official opinion. :)

Sorry, but just an unofficial opinion here : I also tend to use
%{buildroot}, and also %{optflags} etc. instead of their $RPM_* equivalents
mostly since I find it more readable, a bit shorter, and that Red Hat guys
seemed to be doing the same too.

Matthias

[Jeff Johnson]

Post by Konstantin Riabitsev
Just a quick question -- I'm wondering which is considered "more
proper": %{buildroot} or $RPM_BUILD_ROOT? I tend to use %{buildroot} as
it is shorter and more consistent with the rest of the spec file, but
I'd like an official opinion. :)

$RPM_BUILD_ROOT is the official, supported, mechanism for getting the
value of the configured build root in a build scriptlet.

%{buildroot} may be changed in the future w/o warning. Not that I'm planning
on that, but you've been warned.

Otherwise, the two have identical values and uses, and it really doesn't
matter at all.

73 de Jeff

[Rob Nagler]

Post by Jeff Johnson
Otherwise, the two have identical values and uses, and it really doesn't
matter at all.

Not sure this is correct. Maybe this has been fixed after 4.0.4, but
when I do:

%files -f $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/files.list

I get:

RPM build errors:
Could not open %files file ./$RPM_BUILD_ROOT/files.list: No such file or directory

When I do:

%files -f %{buildroot}/files.list

It works fine.

Rob

[Jeff Johnson]

Post by Rob Nagler

Post by Jeff Johnson
Otherwise, the two have identical values and uses, and it really doesn't
matter at all.

Not sure this is correct. Maybe this has been fixed after 4.0.4, but

Yes it is a correct statement ...

Post by Rob Nagler
%files -f $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/files.list

... but this syntax is not officially supported functionality any more
than %{buildroot} is.

Post by Rob Nagler
Could not open %files file ./$RPM_BUILD_ROOT/files.list: No such file or directory
%files -f %{buildroot}/files.list

Yup, %files is not a shell context, but rather a spec file context,
so $RPM_BUILD_ROOT is not defined but %{buildroot} is.

Again, It Really Doesn't Matter.

73 de Jeff

[Tomasz Kłoczko]

Post by Rob Nagler

Post by Jeff Johnson
Otherwise, the two have identical values and uses, and it really doesn't
matter at all.

Not sure this is correct. Maybe this has been fixed after 4.0.4, but
%files -f $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/files.list
Could not open %files file ./$RPM_BUILD_ROOT/files.list: No such file or directory
%files -f %{buildroot}/files.list
It works fine.

But in both cases can be splited to simple:

%files -f files.list

because "%files -f" if not path specufied read file by default file
located in build root.

kloczek

[Matthias Saou]

Post by Tomasz Kłoczko
%files -f files.list
because "%files -f" if not path specufied read file by default file
located in build root.

Hmmm, aren't you confusing %{builddir} with %{buildroot}? Or maybe I didn't
get enough sleep, I feel my brain going slooooow this morning...

Matthias

[James Olin Oden]

Post by Jeff Johnson

Post by Konstantin Riabitsev
Just a quick question -- I'm wondering which is considered "more
proper": %{buildroot} or $RPM_BUILD_ROOT? I tend to use %{buildroot} as
it is shorter and more consistent with the rest of the spec file, but
I'd like an official opinion. :)

$RPM_BUILD_ROOT is the official, supported, mechanism for getting the
value of the configured build root in a build scriptlet.
%{buildroot} may be changed in the future w/o warning. Not that I'm planning
on that, but you've been warned.
Otherwise, the two have identical values and uses, and it really doesn't
matter at all.

Don't the macros get evaluated before the script is ran and the value of
$RPM_BUILD_ROOT is evaluated in the script?

...james