---
date: 29 October 2010
section: 8
title: RPMSPEC
---

NAME
====

rpmspec - RPM Spec Tool

SYNOPSIS
========

QUERYING SPEC FILES
-------------------

**rpmspec** {**-q\|\--query**} \[**select-options**\]
\[**query-options**\] *SPEC\_FILE \...*

PARSING SPEC FILES TO STDOUT
----------------------------

**rpmspec** {**-P\|\--parse**} *SPEC\_FILE \...*

INVOKING MACRO SHELL
--------------------

**rpmspec** {**--shell**} \[*SPEC_FILE \...*\]

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.

select-options
--------------

\[**\--rpms**\] \[**\--srpm**\]

query-options
-------------

\[**\--qf,\--queryformat** *QUERYFMT*\] \[**\--target**
*TARGET\_PLATFORM*\]

QUERY OPTIONS
-------------

The general form of an rpm spec query command is

**rpm** {**-q\|\--query**} \[**select-options**\] \[**query-options**\]

You may specify the format that the information should be printed in. To
do this, you use the

**\--qf\|\--queryformat** *QUERYFMT*

option, followed by the *QUERYFMT* format string. See **rpm**(8) for
details.

SELECT OPTIONS
--------------

**\--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.

EXAMPLES
========

Get list of binary packages which would be generated from the rpm spec
file:

>      $ rpmspec -q rpm.spec
>      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
>      ...
>

Get summary infos for single binary packages generated from the rpm spec file:

>
>      $ rpmspec -q --qf "%{name}: %{summary}\n" rpm.spec
>      rpm: The RPM package management system
>      rpm-libs: Libraries for manipulating RPM packages
>      rpm-build-libs: Libraries for building and signing RPM packages
>      ...
>

Get the source package which would be generated from the rpm spec file:

>
>      $ rpmspec -q --srpm rpm.spec
>      rpm-4.11.3-3.fc20.x86_64
>

Parse the rpm spec file to stdout:

>      $ rpmspec -P rpm.spec
>      Summary: The RPM package management system
>      Name: rpm
>      Version: 4.14.0
>      ...

Run interactive macro shell for debugging macros:

>      $ rpmspec --shell
>      > %define foo bar
>      > %foo
>      bar
>      > %(date)
>      Tue Apr 13 03:55:37 PM EEST 2021
>      > %getncpus
>      8

Run interactive macros shell in spec context:

>      $ rpmspec --shell popt.spec
>      %name
>      popt
>      %version
>      1.18

SEE ALSO
========

**popt**(3), **rpm**(8), **rpmdb**(8), **rpmkeys**(8), **rpmsign**(8),
**rpm2cpio**(8), **rpmbuild**(8)

**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/ \<URL:http://www.rpm.org/\>**

AUTHORS
=======

    Marc Ewing <marc@redhat.com>
    Jeff Johnson <jbj@redhat.com>
    Erik Troan <ewt@redhat.com>
    Panu Matilainen <pmatilai@redhat.com>