Quick Start Guide

trolled by the variable MAX_RPMDB_BACKUPS (default: 5) in /etc/sysconfig/backup. The
size of a single backup is approximately 1 MB for 1 GB in /usr.
9.2.6 Installing and Compiling Source Packages
All source packages carry a .src.rpm extension (source RPM).
NOTE: Installed Source Packages
Source packages can be copied from the installation medium to the hard disk and
unpacked with YaST. They are not, however, marked as installed ([i]) in the
package manager. This is because the source packages are not entered in the
RPM database. Only installed operating system software is listed in the RPM
database. When you “install” a source package, only the source code is added to
the system.
The following directories must be available for rpm and rpmbuild in /usr/src/packages
(unless you specied custom settings in a le like /etc/rpmrc):
SOURCES
for the original sources (.tar.bz2 or .tar.gz les, etc.) and for distribution-specic
adjustments (mostly .diff or .patch les)
SPECS
for the .spec les, similar to a meta Makele, which control the build process
BUILD
all the sources are unpacked, patched and compiled in this directory
RPMS
where the completed binary packages are stored
SRPMS
here are the source RPMs
When you install a source package with YaST, all the necessary components are in-
stalled in /usr/src/packages: the sources and the adjustments in SOURCES and the
relevant .spec le in SPECS.
WARNING
Do not experiment with system components (glibc, rpm, sysvinit, etc.), because
this endangers the stability of your system.
The following example uses the wget.src.rpm package. After installing the source
package, you should have les similar to those in the following list:
Managing Software with Command Line Tools 127