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RPMSPEC(1) General Commands Manual RPMSPEC(1)

NAME

rpmspec - RPM Spec Tool

SYNOPSIS

rpmspec {-q|--query} [options] [query-options] SPEC_FILE ...

rpmspec {-P|--parse} [options] SPEC_FILE ...

rpmspec --shell [options] [SPEC_FILE ...]

DESCRIPTION

rpmspec is a tool for querying a spec file. More specifically for querying hypothetical packages which would be created from the given spec file. So querying a spec file with rpmspec is similar to querying a package built from that spec file. But is is not identical. With rpmspec you can't query all fields which you can query from a built package. E. g. you can't query BUILDTIME with rpmspec for obvious reasons. You also cannot query other fields automatically generated during a build of a package like auto generated dependencies.

OPERATIONS

-q, --query

Query parsed spec header, similarly to querying packages.

-P, --parse

Output parsed spec file to the standard output. That is, conditionals are handled, macros parsed and so on.

--shell

Invoke an interactive shell for inspecting macros, optionally after parsing a spec. Mainly useful for troubleshooting.

ARGUMENTS

SPECFILE

RPM spec file used for building packages with rpmbuild.

OPTIONS

See rpm-common(8) for the options common to all operations.

QUERY OPTIONS

--qf QUERYFMT, --queryformat QUERYFMT

Specify output format for spec queries. See rpm-queryformat(7) for details.

--rpms

Operate on the all binary package headers generated from spec.

--builtrpms

Operate only on the binary package headers of packages which would be built from spec. That means ignoring package headers of packages that won't be built from spec i. e. ignoring package headers of packages without file section.

--srpm

Operate on the source package header(s) generated from spec.

ENVIRONMENT

See rpm-common(8).

EXIT STATUS

On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.

EXAMPLES

rpmspec -q rpm.spec

Get list of binary packages which would be generated from the rpm spec file, eg: 
rpm-4.11.3-3.fc20.x86_64
rpm-libs-4.11.3-3.fc20.x86_64
rpm-build-libs-4.11.3-3.fc20.x86_64
...

rpmspec -q --qf "%{name}: %{summary}n" rpm.spec

Get summary infos for single binary packages generated from the rpm spec file, eg: 
rpm: The RPM package management system
rpm-libs: Libraries for manipulating RPM packages
rpm-build-libs: Libraries for building and signing RPM packages
...

rpmspec -q --srpm rpm.spec

Get the source package which would be generated from the rpm spec file, eg: 
rpm-4.11.3-3.fc20.x86_64

rpmspec -P rpm.spec

Parse the rpm spec file to stdout, eg: 
Summary: The RPM package management system
Name: rpm
Version: 4.14.0
...

rpmspec --shell

Run interactive macro shell for debugging macros, eg: 
> %define foo bar
> %foo
bar
> %(date)
Tue Apr 13 03:55:37 PM EEST 2021
> %getncpus
8

rpmspec --shell popt.spec

Run interactive macros shell in spec context, eg: 
%name
popt
%version
1.18

SEE ALSO

popt(3), rpm(8), rpmbuild(1), rpm-queryformat(7), rpm-macros(7)

rpmspec --help - as rpm supports customizing the options via popt aliases it's impossible to guarantee that what's described in the manual matches what's available.

http://www.rpm.org/

2025-11-07 RPM 6.0.0