Autospec

autospec is a tool to assist in the automated creation and maintenance of RPM packaging. It will continuously run updated builds based on new information discovered from build failures until it has a complete and valid .spec file. The tool makes use of mock to achieve this.

Table of Contents

License
Configuration of autospec
Synopsis
Requirements
Control files
Name and version resolution
Automatic license server support
Integration of systemd unit files

License

autospec is available under the terms of the GPL, version 3.0

Configuration of autospec

autospec is configured by means of a simple INI-style configuration file. The default location of this file is assumed to be /usr/share/defaults/autospec/autospec.conf.

Example autospec.conf file:

[autospec]
git = git@someurl.com/%(NAME)s
license_fetch = http://yourhost/hash.php
license_show = http://yourhost/showone.php?hash=%(HASH)s
packages_file = file:///path/to/package_list_file
yum_conf = file:///path/to/yum.conf
upstream = http://yourhost/tarballs/%(HASH)s/%(NAME)s

git: Optional URI template for remote git repository
license_fetch: Optional URL to use for scanning license files
license_show: Optional URL to interact with online license checker
packages_file: Optional path to add autodetected runtime requirement checking
yum_conf: Optional path to yum configuration
upstream: Base URL for stored upstream tarballs

Synopsis

usage: autospec.py [-h] [-g] [-n NAME] [-v VERSION]
                   [-a [ARCHIVES [ARCHIVES ...]]] [-l] [-b] [-c CONFIG]
                   [-t TARGET] [-i] [-p] [--non_interactive] [-C]
                   [-m MOCK_CONFIG] <url>

  url                 (required) tarball URL
                      (e.g. http://example.com/downloads/mytar.tar.gz)

optional arguments:

`-h, --help`	show this help message and exit
`-g, --skip-git`	Don't commit result to git
`-n NAME, --name NAME`
	Override the package name
`-v VERSION, --version VERSION`
	Override the package version
`-a ARCHIVES, --archives ARCHIVES`
	tarball URLs for additional source archives and a location for the sources to be extacted to (e.g. http://example.com/downloads/dependency.tar.gz /directory/relative/to/extract/root )
`-l, --license-only`
	Only scan for license files
`-b, --skip-bump`
	Don't bump release number
`-c CONFIG, --config CONFIG`
	Set configuration file to use
`-t TARGET, --target TARGET`
	Target location to create or reuse
`-i, --integrity`
	Search for package signature from source URL and attempt to verify package
`-p, --prep-only`
	Only perform preparatory work on package
`--non_interactive`
	Disable interactive mode for package verification
`-C, --cleanup`	Clean up mock chroot after building the package
`-m MOCK_CONFIG, --mock-config MOCK_CONFIG`
	Value to pass with Mock's -r option. Defaults to "clear", meaning that Mock will use /etc/mock/clear.cfg.

Requirements

In order to run correctly, autospec requires the following components:

python3
correctly configured mock

If autospec is not configured to use a license server, then it will use the autospec/license_hashes file - which is a list of licenses to facilitate automatic license detection during the scan of a tarball. For correctness, license names should be in the SPDX identifier format. Each line in the file constitutes a license definition, for example:

750b9d9cc986bfc80b47c9672c48ca615cac0c87, BSD-3-Clause
175e59be229a5bedc6be93e958a970385bb04a62, Apache-2.0
794a893e510ca5c15c9c97a609ce47b0df74fc1a, BSD-2-Clause

Control files

It is possible to influence precisely how autospec will behave in order to gain fine control over the build itself. These files may be used to alter the default behaviour of the configure routine, to blacklist build dependencies from being automatically added, and such.

These files are expected to live in same directory that the resulting .spec will live.

Common files

release: This file contains the current release number that will be used in the .spec. This is also bumped and generated on existing and new packages, respectively. This results in less manual work via automatic management.
$package.license: In certain cases, the package license may not be automatically discovered. In this instance, autospec will exit with an error. Update this file to contain the valid SPDX identifier for any license(s) for the package, replacing $package in the filename with the actual package name.

Controlling dependencies

buildreq_add: Each line in the file provides the name of a package to add as a build dependency to the .spec.
pkgconfig_add: Each line in the file is assumed to be a pkgconfig() build dependency. Add the pkg-config names here, as autospec will automatically transform the names into their pkgconfig($name) style when generating the .spec.
requires_add: Each line in the file provides the name of a package to add as a runtime dependency to the .spec.
${custom}_requires_add: Same as "requires_add" above, but instead of the Requires being placed on the main subpackage, they will be placed on the -${custom} subpackage.
provides_add: Each line in the file provides the name of a identifier to add as a Provides to the .spec.
${custom}_provides_add: Same as "provides_add" above, but instead of the Provides being placed on the main subpackage, they will be placed on the -${custom} subpackage.
buildreq_ban: Each line in the file is a build dependency that under no circumstance should be automatically added to the build dependencies. This is useful to block automatic configuration routines adding undesired functionality, or to omit any automatically discovered dependencies during tarball scanning.
pkgconfig_ban: Each line in this file is a pkgconfig() build dependency that should not be added automatically to the build, much the same as buildreq_ban. As with pkgconfig_add, these names are automatically transformed by autospec into their correct pkgconfig($name)) style.
requires_ban: Each line in the file is a runtime dependency that under no circumstance should be automatically added to the runtime dependencies. This is useful to block automatic configuration routines adding undesired functionality, or to omit any automatically discovered dependencies during tarball scanning.
${custom}_requires_ban: Same as "requires_ban" above, but instead of the Requires being removed from the main subpackage, they will be removed from the -${custom} subpackage.
provides_ban: Each line in the file is an identifier that under no circumstance should be automatically added as a Provides. This is useful to block automatic configuration routines adding undesired identifiers.
${custom}_provides_ban: Same as "provides_ban" above, but instead of the Provides being removed from the main subpackage, they will be removed from the -${custom} subpackage.

Note

Run time requirements are not assumed to be build time requirement If a package has the same build and run time requirement it must be added to both buildreq_add and requires_add.

Controlling the build process

extra_sources

This file contains a list of extra files to be added to the .spec and optionally installed as well. Each non-blank and non-comment line should start with the file name as found in the Git directory, followed by arguments to be passed to the /usr/bin/install(3) command, with at least one argument starting with a slash, denoting the destination directory (there's no need for %{buildroot}). If the install arguments are missing, Autospec will not generate an installation command and the package should specify how to install in the install_append file (see below).

configure

This file contains configuration flags to pass to the %configure macro for autotools based tarballs. As an example, adding --disable-static to ./configure for an autootools based tarball would result in

%configure
--disable-static

being emitted in the .spec.

configure_openmpi

This file contains configuration flags to pass to the %configure macro for autotools based tarballs to configure openmpi builds.

configure32, configure64, configure_avx2, configure_avx512

These files are appended to the ``%configure'' macro after the contents of the ``configure'' file above. They are used for 32-bit, regular 64-bit, AVX2 and AVX512 builds, respectively.

cmake_args

This file contains arguments that should be passed to the %cmake macro for CMake based tarballs. As an example, adding -DUSE_LIB64=ON to ./cmake_args would result in %cmake -DUSE_LIB64=ON being emitted in the .spec.

cmake_args_openmpi

This file contains arguments that should be passed to the %cmake macro for CMake based tarballs for openmpi builds.

make_command

The contents of this file will be used instead of the make command, i.e. use this if make should be replace with another build tool like ninja.

make_args

The contents of this file are appended to the make invocation. This may be useful for passing arguments to make, i.e. make TOOLDIR=/usr

make32_args

The contents of this file are appended to the make invocation of the 32bit build. It is appended after the make_args content so 32bit specific overrides can be added.

make_install_args

Much like make_args, this will pass arguments to the make install macro in the .spec

make32_install_args

Much like make32_args, this will pass arguments to the make install macro in the .spec for the 32bit build. Again it is appended after make_install_args so 32bit specific overrides can be added.

prep_prepend

Additional actions that should take place directly after %prep and before the %setup macro. This will be placed in the resulting .spec, and is used for situations where fine-grained control is required.

build_prepend

Additional actions that should take place after %build and before the %configure macro or equivalent (%cmake, etc.). If autospec is creating AVX2, AVX-512 or 32-bit, these actions will be repeated for each of those builds, This will be placed in the resulting .spec, and is used for situations where fine-grained control is required.

build_prepend_once

Additional actions that should take place directly after %build and before the %configure macro or equivalent (%cmake, etc.). If autospec is creating AVX2, AVX-512 or 32-bit, these action will not be repeated for each of those builds, This will be placed in the resulting .spec, and is used for situations where fine-grained control is required.

make_prepend

Additional actions that should take place directly after the configuring step and before the %make macro or equivalent. If autospec is creating AVX2, AVX-512 or 32-bit, these actions will be repeated for each of those builds, before their respective make steps. This will be placed in the resulting .spec, and is used for situations where fine-grained control is required.

install_prepend

Additional actions that should take place directly after %install but before the %make_install macro (or equivalent). This will be placed in the resulting .spec, and is used for situations where fine-grained control is required.

install_append

Additional actions that should take place at the very end of the %install section. This will be placed in the resulting .spec, and is used for situations where fine-grained control is required.

install_macro

The contents of this file will be used instead of the automatically detected install routine, i.e. use this if %make_install is insufficient.

subdir

Not all packages have their Makefile's available in the root of the tarball. An example of this may be cross-platform projects that split Makefile's into the unix subdirectory. Set the name in this file and the .spec will emit the correct pushd and popd lines to utilise these directories for each step in the build.

cmake_srcdir

The contents of this file are a path to the source directory in which to run cmake for non-standard packages. This path is relative to the clr-build subdirectory, which is created directly below the source package's root.

build_pattern

In certain situations, the automatically detected build pattern may not work for the given package. This one line file allows you to override the build pattern that autospec will use. The supported build_pattern types are:

R: R language package
cpan: perl language package
ruby: ruby language package
configure: Traditional %configure autotools route
configure_ac: Like configure, but performs %reconfigure to regenerate ./configure
autogen: Similar to configure_ac but uses the existing ./autogen.sh instead of %reconfigure
cmake: Traditional builds using CMake
qmake: qmake (Qt5) projects
make: Run make followed by make install, skipping configure. Note that this is the fallback build pattern in case no other build patterns are autodetected
distutils3: Only build the Pythonic package with Python 3
pyproject: Build the Pythonic package using the PEP 516 method
meson: Build package with Meson/Ninja
golang: Build Go package
godep: A go dependency-only package
[WIP] cargo: Build Rust package with Cargo
[WIP] scons: Build package with Scons

series

This file contains a list of patches to apply during the build, using the %patch macro. As such it is affected by -p1 style modifiers. Arguments to patch can be added after the patch filename. For example:

` 0001-my-awesome-patch.patch -d some/subdir -p1 `

pypi_overrides

This file contains a list of modules to remove version tests on during the build. It also modifies the requirement of the requires.txt egg if it exists in the package. For example:

` colorama ` in the file will cause this modification: ` - 'colorama>=0.2.5,<0.4.4', + 'colorama', `

golang_libpath

When building go packages, the go import path will be guessed automatically (e.g. building https://github.com/go-yaml/yaml/ would get github.com/go-yaml/yaml). While this is handy, it's not always correct (in the previous example, the correct import path should be gopkg.in/yaml.v2). This could be easily fixed by placing gopkg.in/yaml.v in this file, changing where the go bits will be placed.

service_restart

Each line in the file specifies the full path to a systemd unit file installed by this package that should be restarted by clr-service-restart.

Controlling files and subpackages

excludes

This file is used to generate %exclude lines in the .spec. This is useful for omitting files from being included in the resulting package. Each line in the file should be a full path name.

extras

Each line in the file should be a full path within the resulting package, that you wish to be placed into an automatic -extras subpackage. This allows one to keep the main package slim and split out optional functionality or files.

dev_extras

Same as "extras" above, but instead of the files being placed in an -extras subpackage, they will be placed in the -dev one. Use this functionality to place files used only for development against this software that Autospec does not automatically detect.

tests_extras

Same as "extras" above, but instead of the files being placed in an -extras subpackage, they will be placed in the -tests one. Use this functionality to place files used only for testing against this software that Autospec does not automatically detect.

${custom}_extras

Same as "extras" above, but instead of the files being placed in an -extras subpackage, they will be placed in the extras-${custom} subpackage.

${custom}_extras_requires

Each line contains a subpackage names of other subpackages in the package. This is used when the extras-${custom} subpackage has a runtime requirement on a sibling subpackage.

An example of the ${custom}_extras and ${custom}_extras_requires being used together with:

/usr/bin/foo

in foo_extras and:

data

in foo_extras_requires will produce a spec file package section for example-foo-extras with the following content:

%package extras-foo
Summary: extras-foo components for the example package.
Group: Default
Requires: example-data = %{version}-%{release}

%description extras-foo
extras-foo components for the example package.

setuid

Each line in this file should contain the full path to a binary in the resulting build that should have the setuid attribute set with the %attr macro.

attrs

Each line in this file should specify mode, user, group and filename (space separated) which is translated into a full %attr macro line that will be included in the .spec to have fine-grained control over the permissions and ownership of files in the package.

An example of a attrs file would contain:

4755 root messagebus /usr/libexec/dbus-daemon-launch-helper

which would translate to the following line in the resulting .spec file:

%attr(4755,root,messagebus) /usr/libexec/dbus-daemon-launch-helper

Controlling test suites

By default, autospec will attempt to detect potential test suites that can be run in the %check portion of the .spec.

make_check_command: Override or set the command to use in the %check portion of the .spec. This may be useful when a package uses a custom test suite, or requires additional work/parameters, to work correctly.

Controlling miscellaneous spec metadata

description: Provides content for the %description section, overriding the content autospec autodetects. This is useful if autospec cannot find proper content for the description, if one wants to customize the content for better presentation, etc.

summary

Provides the main Summary: value of the package, overriding any automatically found values. Only the first line is used.

pypi.json: Provides an alternative to reading the pypi api url for package metadata. provides, requires, summary, description and license information could be sourced from this file (see https://wiki.python.org/moin/PyPIJSON) for more details on the structure.

Controlling flags and optimization

Further control of the build can be achieved through the use of the options.conf file. If this file does not exist it is created by autospec with default values. If certain deprecated configuration files exists autospec will use the value indicated by those files and remove them.

The options that can be set in options.conf are as follows:

asneeded: If this is option set, the .spec will disable the LD_AS_NEEDED variable. Supporting binutils (such as found in Clear Linux Project for Intel Architecture) will then revert to their normal behaviour, instead of enforcing -Wl,-as-needed in the most correct sense.
optimize_size: If this option is set, the CFLAGS/LDFLAGS will be extended to build the package optimized for size, and not for speed. Use this when size is more critical than performance.
funroll-loops: If this option is set, the CFLAGS/LDFLAGS will be extended to build the package optimized for speed. In short this where speed is of paramount importance, and will use -03 by default.
insecure_build: If this option is set, the CFLAGS/LDFLAGS will be replaced, using the smallest -02 based generic flags possible. This is useful for operating systems employing heavy optimizations or full RELRO by default.
pgo: If this option is set, the CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS will be extended to build the package with profile-guided optimization data. It will add -O3, -fprofile-use, -fprofile-correction and -fprofile-dir=pgo.
use_lto: If this option is set, link time optimization is enabled for the build.
use_avx2: If this option is set, a second set of libraries, for AVX2, is built.
use_avx512: If this option is set, an additional set of libraries, for AVX512, is built.
openmpi: If this option is set, an additional openmpi package is built.
fast-math: If this option is set, -ffast-math is passed to the compiler.
broken_c++: If this option is set, flags are extended with -std=gnu++98.
allow_test_failures: If this option is set it will allow test failures, and will still emit the %check code in a way that allows the build to continue.
skip_tests: If this option is set the test suite will not be run.
no_autostart: If this option is set the autostart subpackage (which contains all files matching /usr/lib/systemd/system/*.target.wants/) will not be required by the base package.
conservative_flags: If this option is set autospec will set conservative build flags
broken_parallel_build: If this option is set, the parallelization is disabled during build.
use_clang: If this option is set autospec will utilize clang. This unsets the funroll-loops optimization if it is set.
keepstatic: If this option is set, then %define keepstatic 1 is emitted in the .spec. As a result, any static archive (.a) files will not be removed by rpmbuild.
32bit: This option will trigger the creation of 32-bit libraries for a 32-bit build.
nostrip: This option will suppress the stripping of the created binaries.
verify_required: This option will make package verification required for the build. This option is automatically set if package verification is ever successful, but can be turned off manually.
security_sensitive: This options sets flags for security-sensitive builds.
so_to_lib: This option causes package .so files to be added to the lib subpackage instead of the dev subpackage.
dev_requires_extras: If this option is set, the extras subpackage is marked as a dependency of the dev package.
autoupdate: This option indicates that the package is trusted enough to be automatically update to its newest available version when set to true. This flag is intended to be used by tools running autospec automatically.
compat: This option indicates the package is a library compatibility package and only provides versioned library files.
nodebug: If this option is set, debuginfo is not created for this package.

Name and version resolution

autospec will attempt to use a number of patterns to determine the name and version of the package by examining the URL. For most tarballs this is simple, if they are of the format $name-$version.tar.$compression.

For websites such as bitbucket or GitHub, using get$ and v$.tar.* style links, the project name itself is used from the URL and the version is determined by stripping down the tag.

CPAN Perl packages, R packages, and rubygems.org rubygems are automatically prefixed with their language name: perl-, R- and rubygem- respectively.

When these automated detections are not desirable, it is possible to override these with the --name flag when invoking autospec

Automatic license server support

autospec can optionally talk to a license server instead of checking local hashsum files, which enables greater coverage for license detection. The URL set in license_fetch is expected to be a simple script that talks HTTP.

This URL should accept POST requests with the following keys:

hash: Contains the SHA-1 hash of the potential license file being checked.
package: The name of the package being examined
text: The contents of the potential license file

Implementations return a plain text response with the SPDX identifier of the license, if known. An empty response is assumed to mean that this license is unknown, in which case autospec will emit the license_show URL. The implementation should show the now-stored license file via a web page, and enable a human to make a decision on the license. This is then stored internally, allowing future requests to automatically know the license type when this hash is encountered again.

Integration of systemd unit files

autospec can add most systemd template file types by having a file in the filename.extension in the build directory. Supported extensions are: mount, service, socket, target, timer, path and tmpfiles. The files will be added as Source# entries and be installed to their appropriate system location.

bwarden/autospec

Autospec