Python RPM AutoPatch

Basically, this is a toolset for doing automated customization of a given rpm.

The idea is to keep it simple and easy to back up, while also making it simple to track what changed and reproduce the changes from the source archive.

The patchsrpm.py script will provide a sample of how to use these libraries. It also provides instructions on how to build a configuration file to begin working with this toolset right away.

Setup

Firstly install rpm-build and development packages

sudo yum install -y rpm-build @development

We strongly recommend using a virtual environment. Because rpm is system dependent python package, we introduced, a simple create_and_fix_venv.sh scripts that work (at least) on EL8 and EL9 systems. The whole setup is as simple as

sudo dnf install -y rpm-build
sudo dnf install -y python3-virtualenv
./create_and_fix_venv.sh

Note: this step is optional.

Usage

Download the package that you want to fix

wget https://your.mirror.example.net/sources/9/x86_64/appstream/Packages/f/firefox-91.9.1-1.el9_0.src.rpm -P srpms

Optionally activate virtualenv

. venv/bin/activate

To patch, you need a configuration directory. Example configuration directory is placed inside configs directory, that has sample hierarchy for Enterprise Linux 6 and 9.

./rpmpatch/patchsrpm.py --keep_dist --config=configs/el9/ srpms/firefox-91.9.1-1.el9_0.src.rpm

Congratulations You have nicely patched source rpm!

Note:

With --keep_dist the patcher will produce firefox-91.9.1-1.el9_0.src.rpm, without it it will produce srpm with distag used by your distribution/system.

Getting help

• Invoking ./rpmpatch/patchsrpm.py without argument will provide options and examples.
• Invoking ./rpmpatch/patchsrpm.py --sampleconfig prints sample config that has all necessary information to create the autopatching process
• In case of a bug/problem or if You need help GitHub issues are very welcome :)!

Tests

There are very simple smoke tests. Note that smoke tests use rpmdev-wipetree command during executions. The tests are bats based.

Installing bats on Enterprise Linux 8/9:

sudo dnf install -y epel-release
sudo dnf install -y bats

Running tests

bats smoke-tests.bats