spec file documentation

[seth vidal]

On Tue, 2009-01-20 at 12:47 -0800, Jonathan Ryshpan wrote:
> Please allow me to vent my irritation about the state of spec file
> documentation.  
> 
> %Flame on:
> Even after looking over postings on the web and Eric Foster-Johnson's
> long book about RPM, but I still can't find definitive answers to two
> simple questions (among others): 
>      1. What is the value of the macro "%{name}"?  I guess it's the
>         value of the "Name:" entry in the spec file, but since I can't
>         find this stated anywhere, it's only a guess. 

yes.

>      2. %configure appears to take an argument, at least it has one in
>         the spec file I am trying to understand and modify.  What does
>         the argument do?

It takes a number of options look in /usr/lib/rpm/macros under %
configure for some details of what you can do.


> For a utility as important as rpmbuild, the state of the documentation
> is truly dismal.

I don't think anyone really disagrees. If you'd like to help, I'm sure
it would be appreciated.

-sv