RPMBUILD-CONFIG(5) File Formats Manual RPMBUILD-CONFIG(5) NAME rpmbuild-config - rpmbuild macro configuration SYNOPSIS NAME VALUE DESCRIPTION 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 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. o clamp_to_buildtime: Clamp file timestamps to package buildtime. o 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: o 4: RPM v4 format o 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: o none: No build_id links are generated. o alldebug: Generate rpm < 4.14 style build_id links, ie everything in the -debuginfo package. o separate: Generate build_id links in binary packages. o 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/ 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 rpmbuild(1), rpm-common(8), rpm-macrofile(5), rpm-rpmrc(5), rpm- config(5), rpm-payloadflags(7) rpm-macros(7) RPM 6.0.1 2026-01-08 RPMBUILD-CONFIG(5)