This probably isn't a bug but it is one hell of a pain in the ass. %files -f doesn't support absolute path names. When using the RPM spec directive: %files -f /tmp/%{name}-%{version}-file.list All I ever get is: Could not open file: /tmp/pkgname-x.x-file.list This is SO annoying as it is not specified anywhere (that I can find) where the file list pointed to by -f should be and so far I've not figured out where to put it.
The file name is relative to the build directory (/usr/src/redhat/BUILD/pkgname-version/)
This has been the behavior of rpm from inception AFAIK. I'll try to permit an absolute file name after rpm-3.0.4 is released.
Even if absolute paths names are not possible. Just changing the error message to provide the full path that rpm tried to open (rather than just the supplied string) would help in debuging. In my case I was making a package that didn't have a BUILD/%{name}-%{version}/ directory hence I could not find where to put the file list.
Fixed in CVS, will be in rpm-3.0.4-0.43. FWIW, using absolute paths in a spec file is almost always the wrong thing to do.
Well. In this case it would have helped _a lot_. There is always a case for doing something 'different'. Supporting the 'different' behaviour doesn't mean advocating it.
This problem appears to be resolved. Please reopen if I'm wrong.