Bug 4664

Summary: --rcfile <file> scanning broken
Product: [Retired] Red Hat Linux Reporter: v.kuhlmann
Component: rpmAssignee: David Lawrence <dkl>
Status: CLOSED WORKSFORME QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: 6.0   
Target Milestone: ---   
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: i386   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
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Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 1999-08-23 14:26:24 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description v.kuhlmann 1999-08-23 08:07:46 UTC 
rpm-3.0.2-6.0

Although rpm is a very powerful tool, it can be a major PITA
when it comes to doing some simple things quickly, like
dumping the contents of an rpm into ./ for a quick look.

rpm 3.x no longer takes the rcfile syntax (e.g. ~/.rpmrc),
complaining about ":" etc. Neither man page nor --help
reflect these changes. The --rcfile option is currently no
good, as it will always complain about the syntax in the
file, regardless of whether the old or new syntax is used
(though the error is different). I was trying to set topdir
(I wish there was a command line option for that).

The only file correctly scanned is ~/.rpmmacros with new
syntax. I have reasons why I want to 1) ignore this file and
use a different one instead and 2) not delete/change it
temporarily.
Comment 1 Jeff Johnson 1999-08-23 14:26:59 UTC 
The syntax for --rcfile has changed to not read /usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc
by default. Here are equivalent commands
	Old:	rpm --rcfile=~/.myrcfile
	New:	rpm --rcfile=/usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc:~/.myrcfile

All but the arch/os tables and the following 2 tokens have been
replace by macro equivalents:
	optflags:
	provides:
There are two new tokens in rc files:
	include:    filename	# insert another file
	macrofiles: /usr/lib/rpm/macros:/etc/rpm/macros:~/.rpmmacros

In order to read from something other than standard macro file
locations, you need to do

	in /some/rcfile:
	    include: /usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc
	    macrofiles: /path/to/macro1:/path/to/macro2:~/.mymacros
	in ~/.mymacros
	     whatever

Then invoke rpm as

	rpm --rcfile /some/rcfile

You can now set the macro _topdir from the command line as
	rpm --define '_topdir /wherever'
Use $HOME expansion on the invoking command line if you wish to
install in your home directory.