RPM Package Dependency Management

These parameters relate to the dependencies between RPM packages, not to the dependencies required to build the RPM package contents.

There are six RPM spec file tags related to dependency management:

• provides defines a virtual package which is provided by the package being built
• requires identifies a package that is required to be installed for the package being built to operate correctly
• requiresPre identifies a package that is required to be installed for the pre-installation scriptlet of the package being built to operate correctly. Packages that are listed here are installed before the pre-installation scriptlet of the package being built is run. Corresponds to the Requires(pre) tag in the spec file.
• requiresPost identifies a package that is required to be installed for the post-installation scriptlet of the package being built to operate correctly. Packages that are listed here are installed before the post-installation scriptlet of the package being built is run. Corresponds to the Requires(post) tag in the spec file.
• requiresPreun identifies a package that is required to be installed for the pre-removal scriptlet of the package being built to operate correctly. Corresponds to the Requires(preun) tag in the spec file.
• conflicts identifies a package which must not be installed if the package being built is installed
• recommends identifies a package that should be installed together with the package being built; the user can decline it. Corresponds to the Recommends tag in the spec file.
• suggests identifies a package that may be useful together with the package being built. Corresponds to the Suggests tag in the spec file.
• supplements identifies a package for which the package being built is a useful addition, the reverse of recommends. Corresponds to the Supplements tag in the spec file.
• enhances identifies a package that the package being built enhances, the reverse of suggests. Corresponds to the Enhances tag in the spec file.

recommends, suggests, supplements and enhances are weak dependencies, which need RPM 4.12 or later; older versions of rpm ignore the tags. They are available from release 2.5.0.

All of these tags can appear multiple times in the spec file. To configure these tags in the plugin configuration, specify an element for each instance of the tag in the spec file; the content of the element is the exact text to be placed in the spec file. Please be careful to ensure that version comparison specifications such as < and > are properly specified in the XML file. Here is an example:

<provides>
  <provide>dump</provide>
</provides>
<requires>
  <require>trash-truck &gt; 1.0</require>
</requires>
<requires>
  <require>road</require>
</requires>
<requiresPre>
  <require>excavator</require>
</requiresPre>
<requiresPost>
  <require>bulldozer</require>
</requiresPost>
<requiresPreun>
  <require>environment-util = 2.0</require>
</requiresPreun>
<conflicts>
  <conflict>incinerator</conflict>
</conflicts>
<recommends>
  <recommend>recycling-plant</recommend>
</recommends>
<suggests>
  <suggest>crane</suggest>
</suggests>
<supplements>
  <supplement>landfill</supplement>
</supplements>
<enhances>
  <enhance>garage</enhance>
</enhances>

addDependencyBasedRequires

If you set the boolean property addDependencyBasedRequires to true, all Maven dependencies of type rpm in the current project will be added as a dependency to the generated RPM.

Using this option, you don't need to specify the requires option (see above) for the direct RPM dependencies that you specified in your pom.xml.

This option defaults to false.

RPM Build Dependency Management

These parameters relate to the dependencies required to build the RPM package contents.

There is one RPM spec file tag related to build dependency management:

• buildRequires identifies a package that is required to be installed for the package being built to build correctly; i.e. it provides some tools needed during the building of the package, or some RPM macros that must be present when adding the scriptlets into the RPM package.

This tag can appear multiple times in the spec file. To configure this tag in the plugin configuration, specify an element for each instance of the tag in the spec file; the content of the element is the exact text to be placed in the spec file. Please be careful to ensure that version comparison specifications such as < and > are properly specified in the XML file. Here is an example:

<buildRequires>
  <buildRequire>ruby &gt; 1.8</buildRequire>
</buildRequires>

Relocation

If you specify the prefix/prefixes parameter to the RPM plugin, you can create a package that can be installed in a user-specified location. Before doing this, read and understand Maximum RPM Chapter 15 since there are a number of kinks and quirks that must be addressed.

Scripts

There are a number of scripts that can be included in the RPM package which are executed as part of the installation, removal, or verification of the package.

Each of the scripts can be configured as a Scriptlet, which allows the content of the script to be provided either as a String or as a file. If both parameters are specified for a script, the external file will be ignored. Before writing scripts for RPM packages, understand the script docs in Maximum RPM since the operation of the scripts must be done correctly or major problems can occur while installing or removing the package.

A <scriptFile> is an absolute path or a path relative to the project base directory. Since 2.5.0, a value that starts with classpath: names a resource on the plugin's class path instead, which lets you ship scripts in a jar that you add to the <dependencies> of the plugin. <fileEncoding> and <filter> apply to both forms.

Script files can be filtered by setting <filter> to true while inline scripts can be filtered together with the pom.

Here are examples of passing the content of the script in the pom (using <script>) and in a file (using <scriptFile>) and enabling filtering for preinstall.sh and classpath:preremove.sh scripts:

<prepareScriptlet>
  <script>echo "preparing ${project.name}"</script>
</prepareScriptlet>
<preinstallScriptlet>
  <scriptFile>/src/main/bin/preinstall.sh</scriptFile>
  <fileEncoding>utf-8</fileEncoding>
  <filter>true</filter>
</preinstallScriptlet>
<preremoveScriptlet>
  <scriptFile>classpath:preremove.sh</scriptFile>
  <filter>true</filter>
</preremoveScriptlet>

Triggers

Triggers are scripts which can be included in an RPM package to execute based on the action of other packages in a system. Before writing triggers for RPM packages, understand the triggers in the RPM documentation since the operation of the scripts must be done correctly or major problems can occur while installing or removing other packages.

Signatures

RPM packages may be signed using GPG or PGP. Currently the plugin only supports generating GPG signatures.