Extracting an rpm to a local directory

Use rpm2cpio

rpm2cpio <rpm-name> | cpio -ivd

Use rpm unpack an srpm to a local directory

• If you want an rpm to be built in a hierarchy other than /usr/src/ add the following to your .rpmmacros file:

«user@host»: vim ~/.rpmmacros
%_topdir /home/$USER/packages

• Then create the appropriate directory structure:

«user@host»: mkdir -p /home/$USER/packages/BUILD
«user@host»: mkdir -p /home/$USER/packages/RPMS
«user@host»: mkdir -p /home/$USER/packages/SRPMS
«user@host»: mkdir -p /home/$USER/packages/SOURCES
«user@host»: mkdir -p /home/$USER/packages/SPECS

• Then run rpmbuild to unpack the source rpm and apply the patches:

«user@host»: cd /home/$USER/packages
«user@host»: rpmbuild -bp SPECS/<package>.spec --nodeps > <package>.log

Note: --nodeps tells rpm to ignore the package dependencies. Package dependencies aren't necessary for simply applying patches.

• Now /home/$USER/packages/BUILD/<package> should have the unpacked sources with the patches applied.