Re: spec file in tarball (was: Eliminate curl binary)

From: Jakub Narebski <jnareb@gmail.com>
Date: Jun 3, 2008, 16:08 UTC
Message-ID: <m3ve0qzekl.fsf@localhost.localdomain>
In-Reply-To: <20080603152054.GA19027@camelia.ucw.cz>

Stepan Kasal <kasal@ucw.cz> writes:

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> On Tue, Jun 03, 2008 at 07:23:21AM -0700, Jakub Narebski wrote:
> > Stepan Kasal <kasal@ucw.cz> writes:
> > >
> > > [...], I do think that including Fedora-style spec files and
> > > other distribution-specific files into the tarball is a mistake.

<whine>But I use it...</whine>

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> > Not only Fedora (and Fedora derivatives) use RPMs.
> 
> I always suspected this is just a wish, I had the impression that
> the rpm-based distribution has diverged too much.
> 
> > Besides, git.spec generated by git Makefile from git.spec.in
> > isn't distribution specific.
> 
> I often hear this, yet I see e.g. SuSE or Polish Linux creating spec
> files very different from what is used in Fedora.

True, spec files for a given _distribution_ (SuSE, PLD, Mandriva) are often _distribution specific_, containing bits that make distro different (for example translations of summary and description).

That doesn't change the fact, that git.spec file generated during build system and contained in the tarball (it is _single file_!), and RPM files in http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/RPMS/ are (I think) not distribution specific, and can be installed on [almost] any RPM-based distribution.

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> > And it allows me to install git
> > in a packaging system on and old machine with old Aurox 11.1
> > (Polish distribution, no longer active, based on Fedora Core 4),
> > with glibc-2.3.5-10.3 via "rpmbuild --rebuild" from .src.rpm.
> 
> (I suppose you meant "rpmbuild -ta", that's the feature which takes
> the spec file from the tarball.)

No, I meant "rpmbuild --rebuild git-*.src.rpm", which I download from kernel.org. I could use "rpmbuild -ta git-*.tar.gz" instead, but I'm just used to this way of installing/upgrading git on my machine.

> The value of this statement is limited by the fact that it's a fork
> of Fedora.  What value does that spec file bring for Mandrake users,
> for example?

Besides I think that git.git git.spec.in file is a good basis for distribution specific spec files...

-- 
Jakub Narebski
Poland
ShadeHawk on #git