NAME

       autospec - Create an RPM package spec file automatically


SYNOPSIS

       autospec  [ -bdhimwzL ] [ -c copyright ] [ -g group ] [ -l
       language_list ] [ -n name-version ] [ -r rpm-version ]


DESCRIPTION

       autospec creates spec files used by the  Red  Hat  Package
       Manager  rpm(8)  in  building  RPM  packages.  It uses the
       information it can determine to fill in  the  proper  spec
       file  fields.  If  it cannot determine a required item, it
       makes an educated guess or inserts a  commented-out  field
       as  a  guide to the user.  This allows a human packager to
       use the generated spec file as an almost complete template
       to  quickly  create  an  RPM package from a typical source
       archive. The spec files generated use  features  available
       in rpm version 3.0, but can optionally generate spec files
       compatible  with  earlier  versions  (as  early  as   2.4)
       instead.

       By default, autospec expects a list of absolute file names
       on its standard input to use as the contents  of  the  RPM
       package.  If  the  -i  command-line  option  is used, then
       autospec expects a list of the commands  used  to  install
       the  program  on  the  system.   These commands, including
       those like cp(1) and install(1) that  are  typically  exe­
       cuted by running `make install', are parsed to extract the
       names of the files being installed.  The -i option does  a
       better  job  if  the  program  is already installed on the
       local machine.

       The following install commands are recognized  and  parsed
       for   file  names:  chgrp,  chmod,  chown,  cp,  ginstall,
       install, ln, mkdir, touch.  The following install commands
       are  ignored: bison, byacc, bzip2, cc, cd, compress, echo,
       flex, gcc, g++, gzip, ld, lex, ranlib,  rm,  strip,  yacc.
       Any  remaining  commands  cause  a  warning  message to be
       printed.

       If -w is used, then the log  file  generated  by  install­
       watch(1)  is expected in standard input instead.  install­
       watch is available as part of the checkinstall(1) package,
       available  from <URL:http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/check­
       install/>.

       Whether the file names come from  a  list  or  an  install
       script,  the  file  types are inferred from the file names
       with hints from  file  status  information  in  the  local
       filesystem.   This  results  in  a  list of files and file
       types in the %files section of the spec file.   If  errors
       are  encountered  while  parsing  the install script, then
       appropriate warning messages are written to  the  standard

       The  -n option can override the RPM name which is normally
       based on the current directory name.  If  the  name  looks
       like it has a version number embedded, that is used as the
       RPM version number.

       When -b is specified, the default parameters to some  spec
       options are set properly for binary source archives. These
       are assumed to contain files already in the proper  direc­
       tory  locations  in  the  archive,  and are designed to be
       installed simply by un-tarring them from the  root  direc­
       tory.

       If  a Linux Software Map (.lsm) file exists in the current
       directory and the -m option is not given,  information  is
       extracted  from  it to fill in the spec file.  Fields that
       can be filled in this way are Version, Copyright, Summary,
       Source,  and  %description.   The  contents  of several of
       these can be overridden at creation time by other command-
       line options.

       Older versions of rpm do not support some of the spec file
       constructs that autospec can place into the spec files  it
       generates.   If you would like spec files that can be used
       with older versions of rpm to create packages, you can use
       the  -r option to specify the version with which you would
       like to have compatibility.  Currently,  only  the  values
       2.4, 2.5 and 3.0 are supported and values outside this set
       are rounded to the closest value.

       autospec will give good results for the majority  of  pro­
       grams. However, programs with complex installation scripts
       will often produce many warnings when used with autospec's
       -i option, and the resultant spec file may contain invalid
       or missing files in the %files section. The spec file will
       need  to  be  manually edited to fix such problems.  Using
       installwatch and the -w option while installing these pro­
       grams will give a more complete spec file.

       There  is  no  way for autospec to know with certainty the
       correct contents of the %prep, %build  and  %install  sec­
       tions of the spec file, so it inserts the most common com­
       mands. These must always be manually checked  and  changed
       where necessary.


EXAMPLES

       Following  is  how  a  user could use autospec to create a
       spec file for the source archive `foo-1.23.tar.gz'.

       1) Un-tar the archive into a suitable directory (e.g.  tar
       xzf foo-1.23.tar.gz).

       2)  Change  to that directory and run `make' to create the
       program, then `make install' to install it on  the  system

       3)  Run  autospec  to  create  a  spec  file (e.g. make -n
       install | autospec -i > foo.spec)

       4) Edit the foo.spec file, adding  appropriate  Group  and
       Copyright  fields,  if  necessary,  and  making  any other
       changes needed.

       5) Create an RPM package with the spec file (e.g. rpmbuild
       -ba foo.spec).

       If there is no `install' target in the make file (or there
       is no make file)  then  the  command  in  step  3  can  be
       replaced  by something like `/bin/ls -d /usr/local/bin/foo
       /usr/local/lib/foo/* | autospec > foo.spec'

       If autospec gives too many warning messages in step 3  and
       it misses too many files, then you may wish to install the
       installwatch(1) package and use it to  track  which  files
       are  installed.   In this case, replace step 3 with a com­
       mand  like  `installwatch  -o  install.log  make  install;
       autospec -w < install.log > foo.spec'

       If  the  source file needs to be patched, then a diff must
       be generated from the original source files and  the  spec
       file  modified to use it in the build process. The details
       are beyond the scope of this document.

       autospec also handles binary tar balls where the files are
       stored  in their proper places in the directory hierarchy.
       A sample directory of such a tar.gz file might look like:

        usr/bin/foo
        usr/lib/foo/
        usr/lib/foo/foo.dat
        usr/man/man8/foo.8

       The following command creates a fully-functional spec file
       for such an archive:

       tar tzf foo-1.23-bin.tar.gz | autospec -bd -c GPL -g Util­
       ities/System -n foo-1.23 -l '' > foo.spec


OPTIONS

       -b     Source archive is a binary archive, ready to be un-
              tarred  directly  into  the  local  filesystem.  -d
              should be specified whenever this option is chosen.

       -ccopyright
              Specifies   the   contents  of  the  Copyright:  or
              License: line in the spec file.  If  not  specified
              and  an  LSM  file is found, its contents are used.
              If no LSM file is available and the -m  option  has
              not  been given, likely files in the current direc­

              appropriate  Copyright: line is generated if one is
              found.  Otherwise, the line is  commented  out  and
              must  be edited by hand before the spec file can be
              used.

       -d     Don't look at most files in the current  directory.
              This  includes looking for documentation files like
              `README'  and  `BUGS',  looking  for  a   configure
              script,  and looking for contents for the %descrip­
              tion section and Copyright: or License: lines,  but
              does not include looking for an .lsm file (see -m).

       -ggroup
              Specifies the contents of the Group:  line  in  the
              spec  file.  If  not  specified, the Group: line is
              determined by looking at the file list  and  making
              an educated guess.  The guess is tailored to the OS
              distribution installed on the local machine  (which
              is  determined by looking at /etc/*-release files).
              Often, no guess is likely to be correct and instead
              the Group: line is commented out and must be edited
              by hand before the spec file can be used. A list of
              recommended   groups  can  be  found  in  the  file
              /usr/doc/rpm-N/groups    or     /usr/share/doc/rpm-
              N/GROUPS  where N depends on the version of rpm you
              have installed.

       -h     Show brief command help.

       -i     Standard input is  assumed  to  contain  a  program
              installation  shell  script  instead  of  a list of
              files.

       -llanguage_list
              Additional language-specific Summary:,  Group:  and
              %description  entries  are  added to the spec file,
              but commented out,  for  each  language  specified.
              These  extra  entries  should  be  manually  edited
              before the spec file is used.  language_list should
              consist  of  RFC  1766  language codes (usually the
              two-letter codes from ISO 639), separated  by  com­
              mas.  The language of the current locale is used as
              the default argument, if  it's  not  English  (this
              doesn't work on old Python versions).  Use an empty
              argument of '' to suppress the default.   Multilin­
              gual  entries  are not generated when creating spec
              files for RPM version 2.4.

       -m     Don't use the contents of a Linux Software Map file
              ending in .lsm if found in the current directory to
              fill in more of the spec file. Don't look for  text
              files  with software license details in the current
              directory, either.

       -nname-version
              RPM name with optional embedded version number.  By
              default,  the  RPM  name  is  the current directory
              name.

       -rrpm-version
              Generate spec files compatible with the given  ver­
              sion of rpm (defaults to 3.0).

       -w     Standard  input is assumed to contain the output of
              installwatch instead of a list of files.

       -z     Indicate that the source archive is in  ZIP  format
              instead of gzipped tar format.

       -L     Display software license


EXIT STATUS

       autospec's exit status is 0 on success, 1 when given a bad
       command-line option, and 2  when  errors  are  encountered
       while parsing the input file names.


FILES

       /usr/share/autospec/*
              default location of autospec program


BUGS

       The  command  tokenizing  done with the -i option is quite
       crude as it doesn't take into account  escape  characters,
       redirection  or  most  other  special characters.  Not all
       options of the recognized commands are accepted.   Complex
       installation  scripts  using  environment variables, `for'
       loops, `if' statements or other shell commands  will  pro­
       duce  warnings and may cause missing or incorrect files in
       the %files section. The installwatch program offers a good
       way  to  overcome  this  limitation  as it directly tracks
       function calls commonly used by installation programs.

       Software built with the GNU autoconf(1) system is not han­
       dled  very  well.   Use  the -w option and installwatch on
       such programs.

       If someone else has already packaged your program into  an
       RPM,  it's  often better to install the .src.rpm and start
       from that spec file instead of using  autospec.   This  is
       especially  true  for  larger,  more complex packages that
       autospec   doesn't   always   handle   very   well.    See
       <URL:http://www.rpmfind.net>  to  see if an RPM is already
       available for your package.


AUTHOR

       Daniel Fandrich <dan@coneharvesters.com>


       Thanks to Christian Thayer, Marc Lavallée and Scott Dudley
       for bug reports.


COPYRIGHT

       autospec  is copyright © 1997-2003 by Daniel Fandrich.  It
       is provided "as is", without any express or  implied  war­
       ranties.  See the file COPYING for details.


SEE ALSO

       rpm(8), installwatch(1)


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