[Rpm-maint] [rpm-software-management/rpm] [RFE] Add option to %files to ignore listed files (suggest: -i) (Issue #2555)

[Michal Domonkos]

This sounds like a problem of package *distribution*, not package building.

As I understand it, your actual goal here is to avoid *shipping* a subpackage in the repositories. The current "workaround" as you described it therefore is the proper solution to this.

The contents of the buildroot is supposed to reflect what's being packaged one way or another. What follows from that is, any SPEC construct that would allow for excluding an already installed file would make no sense. The existence of the `%exclude` directive really is just to allow for cherry-picking the individual files into subpackages, not to exclude them altogether, as discussed in #994 that you linked.

If you wish to avoid packaging certain files, then don't install them in the first place. Similarly, if you wish to avoid shipping a built package, then don't ship it.

Theoretically, if RPM supported this, treating an empty filelist as "don't build this subpackage" would be better as one could then reuse the existing `-f` option to supply an empty file (through a filename stored in a macro). But like said, I don't see us adding what looks like a workaround for the limitations of a package distribution mechanism.

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