Re: Latest version of documentation? Where?

[s davison computer org]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Roland G. [mailto:roland gisplan com br]
>Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2005 06:00 PM
>To: rpm-list redhat com
>Subject: Latest version of documentation? Where?
>
>Hello,
>
>where can I find the latest online documentation about RPM?
>"Maximum RPM" can be found in the following locations:
>
>1) http://www.rpm.org/max-rpm/
>2) http://www.rpm.org/max-rpm-snapshot/
>
>Number 2 Seems to be more up to date, correct?
>
>Both of them are outdated though, e.g. I can't find anything about the
>"%define" macro. So where can I get more up to date information?


I've been wondering the same thing.  RPM seems still to
be in an active development phase.  Publicly available 
man pages and books have not kept up.  Red Hat must
have some documentation that they use internally -- I
hope they will release it.  But then again, in a GPL
era maybe knowledge of how the software works gives a
competitive edge, and it's not in their interests to
release it.

There is one book more recent than Maximum RPM, and it's
not bad:
Red Hat RPM Guide
by Eric Foster-Johnson
Copyright 2003 by Red Hat, Inc.
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 0-7645-4965-0

It does, for example, discuss the "%define" directive
for defining macro values in spec files.

Oddly, the book does not seem to be mentioned at all
on the Red Hat web site.  It is out of print.  I got
my copy used from one of the sellers advertising on
Amazon.  It was pretty cheap, and well worth the
price.

But for really up-to-date documentation it seems
you have to read the mailing lists and the source
code.

Stowe Davison