RPM keeps special track of files within a package that hold documentation or configuration data. You need to identify these files with special directives.

The %doc directive marks a file as a documentation file. For example:

%files

/usr/X11R6/bin/xtoolwait

%doc /usr/X11R6/man/man1/xtoolwait.*

This example lists all the included files in /usr/X11R6/man/man1 as documentation files.

If you don’t include the full path to a documentation file or files, the RPM system will create a special documentation directory for the package, and place those files into that directory. For example:

%doc README NEWS

This example places the files README and NEWS into a newly created package-specific directory, typically a subdirectory under /usr/share/doc or /usr/doc.

The %docdir directive names a directory that holds documentation. All files under that directory in the package will get automatically marked as documentation files. For example:

%files

/usr/X11R6/bin/xtoolwait

%docdir /usr/X11R6/man/man1

/usr/X11R6/man/man1/xtoolwait.*

Note

In addition to the marked directories, the standard Linux documentation directories, such as /usr/share/man, are automatically assumed to be documentation directories.

Similar to the %doc directive, the %config directive marks a file as configuration. For example:

%files

/sbin/ypbind

%config /etc/rc.d/init.d/*

%config /etc/yp.conf

%doc README NEWS

A special option to the %config directive, noreplace, tells RPM not to overwrite, or replace a configuration file. For example:

%files

/sbin/ypbind

%config /etc/rc.d/init.d/*

%config(noreplace) /etc/yp.conf

%doc README NEWS

Use this option to help protect local modifications. If you use %config(noreplace), the file will not overwrite an existing file that has been modified. If the file has not been modified on disk, the rpm command will overwrite the file. But, if the file has been modified on disk, the rpm command will copy the new file with an extra file-name extension of .rpmnew.

Similarly, %config(missingok) means that the file does not have to exist on disk. You can use this modifier for files or links that are created during the %post scripts but will need to be removed if the package is removed.

Another special modifier, %ghost, tells the rpm command that the file should not be included in the package. You can use this to name the needed attributes for a file that the program, when installed, will create. For example, you may want to ensure that a program’s log file has certain attributes.