RPM - Revision history

Anonymoususer852: Relocate references to the bottom of page. Add link to Linux page.

2025-08-09T11:30:37Z

Relocate references to the bottom of page. Add link to Linux page.

Anonymoususer852: Flesh out article, clarifying on the variances with extensions that includes .rpm, e.g. .x86_64.rpm which are CPU architecture specific. Clarify on ways of building RPM, especially to reflect in more modern workflow. Add discussion on RPM, and ref...

2025-08-09T11:07:23Z

Flesh out article, clarifying on the variances with extensions that includes .rpm, e.g. .x86_64.rpm which are CPU architecture specific. Clarify on ways of building RPM, especially to reflect in more modern workflow. Add discussion on RPM, and ref...

Anonymoususer852: Add references. Note specifically that rpm2cpio is often used in conjunction with other software. Add examples using star.

2025-08-06T22:05:27Z

Add references. Note specifically that rpm2cpio is often used in conjunction with other software. Add examples using star.

Lucidiot: Add Kaitai Struct schema

2024-12-26T17:35:42Z

Add Kaitai Struct schema

Polluks: /* Software */ XAD

2024-04-12T10:55:49Z

‎Software: XAD

Dexvertbot: Change telparia.com samples link to template

2023-12-28T02:55:32Z

Change telparia.com samples link to template

Sembiance: Added sample files

2022-03-13T19:31:07Z

Added sample files

Polluks: /* Software */ Deark

2019-12-08T02:12:06Z

‎Software: Deark

Jsummers: /* Links */

2018-08-04T14:08:48Z

‎Links

Marco at 09:44, 23 February 2016

2016-02-23T09:44:56Z

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 |kaitai struct=rpm
 }}
-'''RPM''' (originally Red Hat Package Manager) is a format for software distribution used primarily with Linux that uses the said package manager. The <code>.rpm</code> file is the distribution archive, typically comprising of compiled, binary data, ready for use for that specific CPU architecture. For example, <code>.x86_64.rpm</code> corresponds to RPM package typically containing x86_64 or 64bit x86 binaries, for x86_64 machines, <code>.i386.rpm</code> likewise but for 32bit x86 machines, <code>.noarch.rpm</code> are non-CPU architecture specific, etc. <code>.spec</code> files alone are used in the development process to create either RPM or SRPM (<code>.src.rpm</code>) files.
+'''RPM''' (originally Red Hat Package Manager) is a format for software distribution used primarily with [[Linux]] that uses the said package manager. The <code>.rpm</code> file is the distribution archive, typically comprising of compiled, binary data, ready for use for that specific CPU architecture. For example, <code>.x86_64.rpm</code> corresponds to RPM package typically containing x86_64 or 64bit x86 binaries, for x86_64 machines, <code>.i386.rpm</code> likewise but for 32bit x86 machines, <code>.noarch.rpm</code> are non-CPU architecture specific, etc. <code>.spec</code> files alone are used in the development process to create either RPM or SRPM (<code>.src.rpm</code>) files.
 The "payload" of the format is (usually) a [[cpio]] archive, compressed originally with [[gzip]] (but sometimes with other archiving formats in later versions).<ref>[https://stackoverflow.com/a/25986787 linux - How do I extract the contents of an rpm? - Ancient rpm2cpio script - Stack Overflow]</ref><ref>[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18787375/how-do-i-extract-the-contents-of-an-rpm#comment131039986_25933557 linux - How do I extract the contents of an rpm? - ZSTD compressed RPM comment - Stack Overflow]</ref> Headers and a signature are added.
@@ Line 42: / Line 42: @@
 == Sample files ==
 * {{DexvertSamples|archive/rpm}}
 == Links ==
@@ Line 51: / Line 48: @@
 * [http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora_Draft_Documentation/0.1/html/RPM_Guide/ch-specfiles.html Working with spec files]
 * [https://blog.bethselamin.de/posts/argh-pm.html Argh-P-M! – Dissecting the RPM file format]

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 |kaitai struct=rpm
 }}
-'''RPM''' (originally Red Hat Package Manager) is a format for software distribution used primarily with Linux. The .rpm file is the distribution archive, while .spec files are used in the development process to create RPM files.
+'''RPM''' (originally Red Hat Package Manager) is a format for software distribution used primarily with Linux that uses the said package manager. The <code>.rpm</code> file is the distribution archive, typically comprising of compiled, binary data, ready for use for that specific CPU architecture. For example, <code>.x86_64.rpm</code> corresponds to RPM package typically containing x86_64 or 64bit x86 binaries, for x86_64 machines, <code>.i386.rpm</code> likewise but for 32bit x86 machines, <code>.noarch.rpm</code> are non-CPU architecture specific, etc. <code>.spec</code> files alone are used in the development process to create either RPM or SRPM (<code>.src.rpm</code>) files.
 The "payload" of the format is (usually) a [[cpio]] archive, compressed originally with [[gzip]] (but sometimes with other archiving formats in later versions).<ref>[https://stackoverflow.com/a/25986787 linux - How do I extract the contents of an rpm? - Ancient rpm2cpio script - Stack Overflow]</ref><ref>[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18787375/how-do-i-extract-the-contents-of-an-rpm#comment131039986_25933557 linux - How do I extract the contents of an rpm? - ZSTD compressed RPM comment - Stack Overflow]</ref> Headers and a signature are added.
-Spec files contain the information needed to build the archive, and are used by the rpmbuild tool. In the SRPM variety of RPM file, the spec file is included and has details on how to build the package so that it can be self-installing.
+Spec files contain human-readable instructions for <code>rpmbuild</code> tool to build and package a software in RPM (archive) format.<ref>[https://github.com/redhat-developer/rpm-packaging-guide/blob/master/source/packaging-software.adoc#binary-rpms Binary RPMS section - Packaging Software - rpm-packaging-guide - GitHub]</ref> In the SRPM variety of RPM file, the <code>.spec</code> file is included and has details on how to build the package, using either <code>rpmbuild</code> or <code>mock</code><ref>[https://github.com/rpm-software-management/mock/blob/main/docs/index.md#mock Mock - Index.md - rpm-software-management - GitHub]</ref> so that the package can be installed and maintained by RPM package manager itself.
 == Identification ==

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 '''RPM''' (originally Red Hat Package Manager) is a format for software distribution used primarily with Linux. The .rpm file is the distribution archive, while .spec files are used in the development process to create RPM files.
-The "payload" of the format is (usually) a [[cpio]] archive, compressed originally with [[gzip]] (but sometimes with other archiving formats in later versions). Headers and a signature are added.
+The "payload" of the format is (usually) a [[cpio]] archive, compressed originally with [[gzip]] (but sometimes with other archiving formats in later versions).<ref>[https://stackoverflow.com/a/25986787 linux - How do I extract the contents of an rpm? - Ancient rpm2cpio script - Stack Overflow]</ref><ref>[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18787375/how-do-i-extract-the-contents-of-an-rpm#comment131039986_25933557 linux - How do I extract the contents of an rpm? - ZSTD compressed RPM comment - Stack Overflow]</ref> Headers and a signature are added.
 Spec files contain the information needed to build the archive, and are used by the rpmbuild tool. In the SRPM variety of RPM file, the spec file is included and has details on how to build the package so that it can be self-installing.
@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 * [http://rpm.org/max-rpm/s1-rpm-file-format-rpm-file-format.html RPM File Format]
 * [http://rpm.org/wiki/DevelDocs/FileFormat RPM container file format specification]
 == Software ==
 * [http://rpm.org/wiki/Download RPM]
-** <code>rpm2cpio</code> - Can help to open RPM files without installing them
+** <code>rpm2cpio</code> - Can help to open RPM files without installing them. Typically combined with a stream decompressor (e.g. Gzip), [[Cpio]] or [[Tar#Software|star]].
 * [[7-Zip]]
 * [[Konvertor]]
@@ Line 31: / Line 39: @@
 == Sample files ==
 * {{DexvertSamples|archive/rpm}}
 == Links ==

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 |extensions={{ext|rpm}}, {{ext|spec}}
 |pronom={{PRONOM|fmt/793}}, {{PRONOM|fmt/794}}, {{PRONOM|fmt/795}}
 }}
 '''RPM''' (originally Red Hat Package Manager) is a format for software distribution used primarily with Linux. The .rpm file is the distribution archive, while .spec files are used in the development process to create RPM files.

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 * [http://rpm.org/wiki/RelatedSoftware Software related to RPM]
 * {{Deark}}
 == Sample files ==

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 == Links ==
-* [[Wikipedia:RPM Package Manager|Wikipedia article]]
+* [[Wikipedia: rpm (software)]]
 * [http://rpm.org/ Official site]
 * [http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora_Draft_Documentation/0.1/html/RPM_Guide/ch-specfiles.html Working with spec files]