Description of problem:
In RHEL 7, we generate Python RPM provides via:

  %__pythondist_provides	%{_rpmconfigdir}/pythondistdeps.py --provides

Unlike Fedora, where we have the --majorver-provides flag, in RHEL 7 we don't have it.

That means, that Python packages will provide:

  python3.6dist(six)

But not:

  python3dist(six)

However, the %{py3_dist six} macro invocation will output python3dist(six).

Hence, the macros are not compatible within each other. As such, this perfectly valid Fedora spec snippet:

  BuildRequires: %{py3_dist six}

Will produce unmet build dependencies in EPEL.


As a fixer, I think it makes perfect sense to amend %py3_dist to output the versioned provide.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
python-rpm-macros-3-32.el7


As a fix, this:

	
                print("python3dist(" .. canonical .. ") ");

Can be replaced with:

                python3_version = rpm.expand("%python3_version");
                print("python" .. python3_version .. "dist(" .. canonical .. ") ");

I can provide a pull request, if we are still able to fix this in RHEL 7.



Side note: Likewise, the %py2_dist macro is completely useless on RHEL 7, as Python 2 packages don't have the necessary provides at all (neither python2dist() nor python2.7dist()). As such we can either turn it into error, delete it, or leave it be to maintain artificial backwards compatibility with self (useless, but safe).