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

NAME

rpm-config - rpm runtime macro configuration

SYNOPSIS

NAME VALUE

FILES

/usr/lib/rpm/macros
/usr/lib/rpm/macros.d/macros.*
/usr/lib/rpm/platform/%{_target}/macros
/usr/lib/rpm/fileattrs/*.attr
/usr/lib/rpm/<vendor>/macros
/etc/rpm/macros.*
/etc/rpm/macros
/etc/rpm/%{_target}/macros
~/.config/rpm/macros

DESCRIPTION

The primary configuration mechanism in rpm is rpm-macros(7). On startup, rpm reads a set of rpm-macrofile(5) files determined by the macro path.

Each file or glob(7) pattern in the colon-separated macro path is read sequentially by rpm for macro definitions. %{_target} is expanded to the detected <arch>-<os> platform. Tildes are expanded to the value of the environment variable HOME.

If a macro is defined multiple times, the last entry wins. The default macro path uses this to achieve the following hierarchy of settings:

1.
Generic rpm factory defaults
2.
Platform-specific rpm factory defaults
3.
Vendor (distribution) specific settings
4.
Host specific settings
5.
User specific settings
6.
Command-line override settings

The default macro path can be inspected with rpm --showrc|grep ^Macro.

In older versions of rpm, the path of per-user macros was ~/.rpmmacros. This is still processed if it exists and the new configuration directory does not exist.

CONFIGURATION

The following configurables are supported for the rpm runtime (as opposed to just package building) parts:

%_color_output MODE

Output coloring mode. Valid values are never and auto.

%_db_backend BACKEND

The database backend to use. Possible values for BACKEND are:
  • dummy: Dummy backend (no actual functionality)
  • bdb_ro: Berkeley DB (read-only)
  • ndb: Native database (no external dependencies)
  • sqlite: Sqlite database

%_dbpath DIRECTORY

The location of the rpm database file(s).

%_excludedocs VALUE

Boolean (i.e. 1 == "yes", 0 == "no") that controls whether files marked as %doc should be installed.

%_flush_io VALUE

Flush file IO during transactions (at a severe cost in performance for rotational disks). Possible values are 1 to enable, 0 to disable.

%_group_path PATH

Location of group(5) files as : separated list

%_httpport PORT

The port of HTTP proxy (used for FTP/HTTP).

%_httpproxy HOSTNAME

The hostname of HTTP proxy (used for FTP/HTTP).

%_install_langs LOCALES

A colon separated list of desired locales to be installed; all means install all locale specific files.

%_install_script_path PATH

The PATH put into the environment before running %pre/%post et al.

%_keyring BACKEND

The keyring type to use. Possible values for BACKEND are:
  • fs: Plain ASCII files in a directory
  • openpgp: Shared OpenPGP certificate directory
  • rpmdb: Pseudo-packages in the rpmdb

%_keyringpath DIRECTORY

The location of the keyring path for non-rpmdb variants.

%_minimize_writes VALUE

Minimize writes during transactions (at the cost of more reads) to conserve eg SSD disks (EXPERIMENTAL). Possible values are:
  • 0: disable
  • 1: enable
  • -1: (or undefined) autodetect on platforms where supported, otherwise default to disabled

%_netsharedpath PATH

A colon separated list of paths where files should not be installed. Usually, these are network file system mount points.

%_passwd_path PATH

Location of passwd(5) files as : separated list

%_pkgverify_digests HASHALGOS

A colon separated list of hash algorithms to calculate digests on the entire package files during verification. The calculated digests are stored in the Packagedigests tag of packages in the rpmdb, and the corresponding algorithms in in the Packagedigestalgos tag. No package digests are calculated or stored if --noverify is used during package installation.

%_pkgverify_flags VSFLAGS

Transaction package verification flags, used for fine-grained control of %_pkgverify_level operation. Set to 0x0 for full compatibility with v4 packages.

%_pkgverify_level MODE

Enforced package verification mode in transactions, where MODE is one of:
  • all: require valid digest(s) and signature(s)
  • signature: require valid signature(s)
  • digest: require valid digest(s)
  • none: legacy rpm behavior, nothing required

%_prefer_color VALUE

Package conflict resolution in bi-arch transactions. See also %_transaction_color. Possible values are:
  • 0: disabled
  • 1: prefer 32-bit packages
  • 2: prefer 64-bit packages

%__plugindir DIRECTORY

Transaction plugin directory.

%_query_all_fmt FORMAT

Default output format for rpm(8) query operations, as described by rpm-queryformat(7). Percent signs need to be escaped, for example %%{nevra}.

%_rpmlock_path FILE

The path of the file used for transaction fcntl lock.

%_tmppath PATH

The directory where temporary files are created.

%__urlhelpercmd EXECUTABLE

The executable to use for retrieving remote files.

%__urlhelperopts OPTIONS

Generic options to pass to the %__urlhelpercmd command.

%__urlhelper_localopts OPTIONS

User/host specific options to pass to the %__urlhelpercmd command.

%__urlhelper_proxyopts OPTIONS

Proxy options to pass to the %__urlhelpercmd command.

%_urlhelper COMMAND

Full command (with options) to use when retrieving remote files. Normally pieced together from the double-underscore %__urlhelper* macros.

%_transaction_color VALUE

Package and file conflict behavior in bi-arch transactions. See also %_prefer_color. Possible values are:
  • 0: do not consider "colors", only use arch compatibility map
  • 1: only allow 32-bit packages
  • 2: only allow 64-bit packages
  • 3: allow 32- and 64-bit packages to share files

%_vsflags_erase VSFLAGS

Transaction verification flags used when erasing or updating packages.

%_vsflags_install VSFLAGS

Transaction verification flags used when installing packages.

%_vsflags_query VSFLAGS

Transaction verification flags used when querying packages.

%_vsflags_rebuilddb VSFLAGS

Transaction verification flags used when rebuilding the database.

%_vsflags_verify VSFLAGS

Transaction verification flags used when verifying packages.

Verification flags

Digest/signature verification flags for various rpm operations are controlled by a bitmask known as VSFLAGS. These flags control various aspects of digital checksum and signature verification when reading rpm package files and their headers.

VSFLAGS is formed by bitwise or'ing the individual flags:

  • 0x00001 (RPMVSF_NOHDRCHK): don't verify headers from rpmdb
  • 0x00100 (RPMVSF_NOSHA1HEADER): don't verify header SHA1 digest
  • 0x00200 (RPMVSF_NOSHA256HEADER): don't verify header SHA256 digest
  • 0x00400 (RPMVSF_NODSAHEADER): don't verify header DSA signature(s)
  • 0x00800 (RPMVSF_NORSAHEADER): don't verify header RSA signature(s)
  • 0x01000 (RPMVSF_NOOPENPGP): don't verify header OpenPGP signature(s)
  • 0x02000 (RPMVSF_NOSHA3_256HEADER): don't verify header SHA3_256 digest
  • 0x10000 (RPMVSF_NOSHA256PAYLOAD): don't verify package payload SHA256 digest
  • 0x20000 (RPMVSF_NOMD5): don't verify legacy header+payload MD5 digest
  • 0x40000 (RPMVSF_NODSA): don't verify legacy header+payload DSA signature
  • 0x80000 (RPMVSF_NORSA): don't verify legacy header+payload RSA signature

RPM's Python bindings can be helpful for working with these values, for example:

>>> import rpm
>>> hex(rpm.RPMVSF_NOSHA1HEADER)
'0x100'
>>> hex(rpm.RPMVSF_NOSHA1HEADER|rpm.RPMVSF_NOMD5)
'0x20100'
>>>

Hash algorithms

The following hash algorithms (denoted by HASHALGO) are known to rpm, but availability can vary depending how rpm and it's underlying libraries have been built:

  • 1: MD5 (obsolete)
  • 2: SHA1 (obsolete)
  • 8: SHA256
  • 9: SHA384
  • 10: SHA512
  • 12: SHA3-256
  • 14: SHA3-512

ENVIRONMENT

If XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable is set, it replaces ~/.config in the macro path.

SEE ALSO

rpm(8), rpm-common(8), rpm-macrofile(5), rpm-rpmrc(5), rpm-macros(7)

2025-11-07 RPM 6.0.0