rpmbuild-config(5) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | CONFIGURATION | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

RPMBUILD-CONFIG(5)         File Formats Manual         RPMBUILD-CONFIG(5)

NAME         top

       rpmbuild-config - rpmbuild macro configuration

SYNOPSIS         top

       NAME VALUE

DESCRIPTION         top

       The primary configuration mechanism in rpmbuild is rpm-macros(7).
       See rpm-config(5) for the description of the general mechanism,
       this manual only describes the configurables affecting rpmbuild
       operation.

CONFIGURATION         top

       The following configurables are supported for the rpm build
       operation, typically invoked through the rpmbuild command.

   Locations and filenames
       %_builddir DIRECTORY
           The directory where the per-package build directories will be
           placed when building.

       %_fileattrsdir DIRECTORY
           The directory where the file classifier configuration is
           located.

       %_rpmdir DIRECTORY
           The directory where newly built binary packages will be
           written.

       %_rpmfilename TEMPLATE
           The output binary package filename query format used when
           building binary packages, as described by rpm-queryformat(7).
           The filename is considered relative to %_rpmdir.

       %_sourcedir DIRECTORY
           The directory where the sources and patches are found when
           building.

       %_srcrpmdir DIRECTORY
           The directory where newly built source packages will be
           written.

       %_topdir DIRECTORY
           The toplevel directory under which the package build
           directories reside by default.

   Informational tags
       These are a special group of macros that if defined, behave as if
       the corresponding tag had been used in a specfile. This allows
       changing the values without modifying thousands of specfiles.

       %bugurl URL
           Configurable bug URL, same as BugURL: tag in a specfile. If
           set, should point to a website for searching for existing and
           filing new issues for this package.

       %distribution STRING
           Configurable distribution informationsame as Distribution: tag
           in a specfile.

       %disturl URL
           Configurable distribution URL, same as DistURL: tag in a
           specfile.

       %disttag STRING
           Configurable distribution tag, same as DistTag: tag in a
           specfile.

       %modularitylabel STRING
           Configurable modularity label, same as ModularityLabel: in a
           specfile. Obsolete.

       %packager STRING
           Configurable packager information, same as Packager: in a
           specfile.

       %translationurl URL
           Configurable translation URL, same as TranslationURL: in a
           specfile.

       %upstreamreleases URL
           Configurable URL for checking for newer upstream releases,
           same as UpstreamReleases: in a specfile.

       %vendor STRING
           Configurable vendor information, same as Vendor: in a
           specfile.

   Build operation
       These settings affect various aspects of the build and can cause a
       build to fail or succeed, but have no direct impact on the
       produced packages.

       %_build_pkgcheck EXECUTABLE
           A program to call for each successfully built and written
           binary package, such as rpmlint. The path to the package is
           passed to the program as a command-line argument.

       %_build_pkgcheck_set EXECUTABLE
           A program to call for the whole binary package set after a
           successfully build, such as rpmlint. The paths to the package
           set are passed to the program as command-line arguments.

       %_build_pkgcheck_srpm EXECUTABLE
           A program to call for each successfully built and written
           source package, such as rpmlint. The path to the package is
           passed to the program as a command-line argument.

       %_default_patch_flags STRING
           Set of default options on all %patch applications.

       %_default_patch_fuzz NUMBER
           Default fuzz level for patch application in spec file. See
           patch(1) for details.

       %_smp_ncpus_max NUMBER
           A hard limit for maximum number of CPU's to use in parallel
           during a package build. Zero means unlimited.

       %_smp_nthreads_max NUMBER
           A hard limit for maximum number of threads to use in parallel
           during a package build. Zero means unlimited.

       %_smp_tasksize_proc NUMBER
           Assumed task size of build processes (during compilation).
           Used for tuning the amount of parallelism based on available
           memory.

       %_smp_tasksize_thread NUMBER
           Assumed task size of threads (during package generation). Used
           for tuning the amount of parallelism based on available
           memory.

   Package generation
       These settings affect various aspects of the produced binary and
       source packages.

       %build_mtime_policy POLICY
           Define how file timestamps are handled in built packages.
           Clamping means ensuring the value does not exceed the
           threshold value.
           •   clamp_to_buildtime: Clamp file timestamps to package
               buildtime.
           •   clamp_to_source_date_epoch: Clamp file timestamps to the
               SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH environment variable.

       %clamp_mtime_to_source_date_epoch BOOLEAN
           Alias for %build_mtime_policy clamp_to_source_date_epoch. Do
           not use. Deprecated and scheduled for removal.

       %source_date_epoch_from_changelog BOOLEAN
           Whether to set the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH environment variable from
           the timestamp of the topmost %changelog entry.

       %use_source_date_epoch_as_buildtime BOOLEAN
           Whether to use the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH environment variable
           value as the buildtime of packages.

       %_binary_filedigest_algorithm HASHALGO
           The algorithm to use for generating per-file checksums (aka
           digests) of binary packages.  See rpm-config(5) for the
           supported values.

       %_binary_payload IOFLAGS
           The IO method and compression to use for generating the
           payload of binary packages. See rpm-payloadflags(7).

       %_buildhost HOSTNAME
           Use HOSTNAME as the package buildhost instead of acquiring the
           value from gethostname(2).

       %_buildtime TIMESTAMP
           Use TIMESTAMP as the package buildtime instead of acquiring
           the value from time(2).

       %_changelog_trimage TIMESTAMP
           Maximum age of preserved changelog entries in binary packages,
           relative to newest existing entry. Unix timestamp format. The
           value of zero disables trimming by age.

       %_changelog_trimtime TIMESTAMP
           An alternative strategy for changelog trimming: trim all
           changelog entries older than the specified timestamp. Unix
           timestamp format. The value of zero disables trimming by time.

       %_docdir_fmt TEMPLATE
           A template for the per-package documentation directory name,
           ie. the files packaged with %doc.

       %__docdir_path PATH
           A colon separated list of directories whose contents should be
           always considered as documentation.

       %_openpgp_autosign_id KEYID
           The OpenPGP key id or fingerprint to use for automatically
           signing packages after a successful build. See also
           rpmsign(1).

       %_rpmformat VERSION
           The RPM package format to produce. Supported values are:
           •   4: RPM v4 format
           •   6: RPM v6 format

       %_source_filedigest_algorithm HASHALGO
           The algorithm to use for generating per-file checksums (aka
           digests) of source packages. See rpm-config(5) for the
           supported values.

       %_source_payload
           The IO method and compression to use for generating the
           payload of source packages. See rpm-payloadflags(7).

       %__gpg_reserved_space NUMBER
           The number of bytes to reserve for signatures in the signature
           header. This reserve helps to speed up package signing
           significantly.

   Debuginfo generation
       Debuginfo sub-packages contain information necessary to debug
       otherwise release-specification builds with a debugger. These
       settings determine whether debuginfo packages are generated and
       various aspects of the generated debugging information.

       %_build_id_links MODE
           Defines how and if build_id links are generated for ELF files.
           The following settings are supported:
           •   none: No build_id links are generated.
           •   alldebug: Generate rpm < 4.14 style build_id links, ie
               everything in the -debuginfo package.
           •   separate: Generate build_id links in binary packages.
           •   compat: Same as separate but with a compatibility link(s)
               in the -debuginfo packages.

       %_debuginfo_subpackages BOOLEAN
           Whether rpm should create separate debuginfo packages for each
           subpackage.

       %_debugsource_packages BOOLEAN
           Whether rpm should put debug source files into their own
           subpackage.

       %_enable_debug_packages BOOLEAN
           Whether rpm should generate debuginfo subpackages.

       %_include_gdb_index BOOLEAN
           Include a .gdb_index section in the .debug files. Requires
           %_enable_debug_packages to be enabled and gdb-add-index(1) to
           be installed.

       %_include_minidebuginfo BOOLEAN
           Include minimal debug information in build binaries. Requires
           %_enable_debug_packages to be enabled.

       %_no_recompute_build_ids BOOLEAN
           Disable recomputation of build-ids. Cannot be used with
           %_unique_build_ids.

       %_unique_build_ids BOOLEAN
           Whether build-ids should be made unique between package
           version/releases when generating debuginfo packages.

       %_unique_debug_names BOOLEAN
           Whether .debug files should be made unique between package
           version, release and architecture. Requires %_unique_build_ids
           to be enabled.

       %_unique_debug_srcs BOOLEAN
           Whether the /usr/debug/src/<package> directories should be
           unique between package version, release and architecture.

       %__find_debuginfo EXECUTABLE
           The location of the debuginfo helper executable.

   Legacy compatibility
       These settings deal with several decades of backwards
       compatibility. Most of them determine whether a particular issue
       is considered an error or just a warning. Sometimes also useful
       for temporarily working around issues while packaging.

       %_binaries_in_noarch_packages_terminate_build BOOLEAN
           Whether ELF binaries in noarch packages should terminate a
           build.

       %_duplicate_files_terminate_build BOOLEAN
           Whether duplicate files in %files section should terminate a
           build.

       %_empty_manifest_terminate_build BOOLEAN
           Whether an empty %files manifest file should terminate a
           build.

       %_invalid_encoding_terminates_build BOOLEAN
           Whether a non-UTF8 encoding in package data should terminate a
           build.

       %__find_provides EXECUTABLE
           The executable to use for rpm 3.x style provides generation.
           Do not use. Deprecated and scheduled for removal.

       %__find_requires EXECUTABLE
           The executable to use for rpm 3.x style requires generation.
           Do not use. Deprecated and scheduled for removal.

       %_missing_build_ids_terminate_build BOOLEAN
           Whether ELF files without build-ids should terminate a build.
           For historical reasons, this is only applicable if
           %_enable_debug_packages is also enabled.

       %_missing_doc_files_terminate_build BOOLEAN
           Whether missing %doc files in the build directory should
           terminate a build.

       %_unpackaged_files_terminate_build BOOLEAN
           Whether unpackaged files in a build root should terminate a
           build.

       %_nonzero_exit_pkgcheck_terminate_build BOOLEAN
           Whether the build of packages should fail if package checker
           (if defined) returns an error? See the %_build_pkgcheck_*
           macros.

       %_use_internal_dependency_generator BOOLEAN
           If enabled, use rpm 3.x style dependency generation. Do not
           use. Deprecated and scheduled for removal.

       %_use_weak_usergroup_deps BOOLEAN
           If enabled, dilute user() and group() requires into
           recommends. Useful when transitioning to sysusers.d based
           user/group management.

       %_wrong_version_format_terminate_build BOOLEAN
           Whether invalid version format in dependencies etc should
           terminate a build.

SEE ALSO         top

       rpmbuild(1), rpm-common(8), rpm-macrofile(5), rpm-rpmrc(5),
       rpm-config(5), rpm-payloadflags(7) rpm-macros(7)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the rpm (RPM Package Manager) project.
       Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpm⟩.  It is not known
       how to report bugs for this man page; if you know, please send a
       mail to [email protected].  This page was obtained from the
       project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpm.git⟩ on
       2026-01-16.  (At that time, the date of the most recent commit
       that was found in the repository was 2026-01-15.)  If you discover
       any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you
       believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page,
       or you have corrections or improvements to the information in this
       COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page), send a
       mail to [email protected]

RPM 6.0.90                      2026-01-16             RPMBUILD-CONFIG(5)

Pages that refer to this page: rpmbuild(1)rpm-macrofile(5)rpm-dependency-generators(7)rpm-payloadflags(7)rpm-queryformat(7)