- Prepare system for rpm packaging by installing core development tools.
- Rebuild/Repackage an existing RPM package using rpmdev tools and play around with the .rpmmacros -j value for each compile.
Preparations for rpm packaging:
In order to successfuly repackage a source rpm, certain tools are needed in my fedora system.I need all of the following (Install using yum):
rpmdevtools
rpm-build
rpmlint
rpm
yum-utils
rpm-build
rpmlint
rpm
yum-utils
Rebuild/Repackage an existing RPM package:
NOTE: None of the steps below require rootSTEPS:
1. Once all the required tools are downloaded, I need to create my build directory using the command
#rpmdev-setuptree
The rpmdev-setuptree command will create the rpmbuild directory located at my user's home (~/rpmbuild).2. Download a source package using yum.
#yumdownloader --source privoxy
3. Install the downloaded source package (which places the package's .spec file into ~/rpmbuild/SPECS and other source and patch files in ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES).
Command: rpm -i pkg*src*rpm
#rpm -i privoxy-3.0.16-2.fc13.src.rpm
4. I then have to go to
~/rpmbuild/SPECS/ directory and check the spec file of the software to be packaged; then run the "rpmbuild" command on the spec file, which will go through a series of steps to produce my packages. #rpmbuild -ba privoxy.spec
Editing the .rpmmacros file and change the value for -j:
The.rpmmacros file is an invisible file located in user's home directory (~/.rpmmacros)There's not much I know of this file (I'll study more about it) but as Chris Tyler stated in class, the
%_smp_mflags -j3 (where -j3 is the default option)tells the kernel on how to fast it should go when installing a software.
So I played around with the
%_smp_mflags -j3 value. I was expecting that a higher -j value would mean faster build time.....I was wrong!
Unfortunately for my build, the -j3 (default) option, is .565 seconds slower than the -j1 option in time (user mode). I tested other options up to -j5 which resulted to slower build times.
I will test my build on other systems this coming Friday to make sure my observation is correct. The test was ran on a Fedora 13 system (virtual machine) using Windows 7 as a host (AMD dual-core).
UPDATE: (September 26, 2010)
I learned from Chris that the -j1 option in the .rpmmacros file is well suited for single core processors. I proved it true when I checked my virtualbox settings for my guest machine. I have a single core processor setup.I recompiled the same package, only this time in an amd dual core system. The default value -j4 seems to be well suited for a faster compile.
