Re: Including Documentation files in the SPEC file

[Mark Amidon <amidon caldera com>]

Eli Carter wrote:
> 
> Mark Amidon wrote:
> >
> > Cameron Scott ICM N MC MI SI 6 wrote:
> > > Why can't you do:
> > > %description -f <path to documentation file>   ???
> >
> > Just try querying an uninstalled .rpm file and see how far you get.
> >
> > > You can include a files list - why not a document file for a
> > > description?
> >
> > Because the contents of an .rpm file are compressed, so you couldn't
> > read the internal description file without unpacking the fool thing.
> 
> Oh?
> rpm -qp *.rpm --list
> This will give you the filelist, even if it was created with %files -f.
> It appears that the filelist is stored uncompressed in the rpm, judging
> from a 'strings' output (Jeff, correct me if I'm wrong...)

Oh sure, I understood that.  Now try reading the contents of one of
those files without unpackaging.

> But the few lines or paragraphs in the SPEC file would be handy to have
> in a separate document or generated at build time.

I hadn't considered that, so let me restate it just to see whether I'm
understanding you:

	Could %description use a file to put the description text
	into the header of the .rpm file?

> I think the original poster's feature request is a reasonable one.

Much more reasonable, yes, but as the "release" of the package must
still be updated by editing the SPEC file, any changes to the
description could be made at that time anyway.

-- 
Mark Amidon                   | "Linux is a cancer that attaches itself
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