Hints and Kinks

There isn't much in the way of hard and fast rules when it comes to multi-platform package building. But in general, the following uses of RPM's multi-platform capabilities seem to work the best:

• The excludexxx and exclusivexxx tags are best used when it's known there's no reason for the package to be built on specific architectures.

• The %ifxxx and %ifnxxx conditionals are most likely to be used in the following areas:

  • Controlling the inclusion of %patch macros for platform-specific patches.

  • Setting up platform-specific initialization prior to building the software.

  • Tailoring the %files list when the software creates platform-specific files.

Given that some software is more easily ported to different platforms than others, this list is far from complete. If there's one thing to remember about multi-platform package building, it's don't be afraid to experiment!