[CentOS-devel] Re: rpm verification tool

On Nov 7, 2007, at 10:07 AM, Karanbir Singh wrote:

> Jeff Johnson wrote:
>>> Sure ... it is here:
>>>
>>> http://mirror.centos.org/centos/4/build/distro/tmverifyrpms
>> Would you like a better comparison tool? Nothing wrong with
>> the existing, but better, and more detailed, could easily be done.
>
> absolutely :)
>
> we do rpmcompares and various other bits of fluffery within the  
> buildsystem and adding tools that help us put out a better result  
> would always be welcome!
>

For starters, one can get rpm to format and spew the entire header  
content
using --xml. The --xml option is just smoke and mirrors (like much of  
rpm ;-)
in front of this --queryformat
     --queryformat '[%{*:xml}\n]'

The :xml format modifier applies to specific tags as well:

$ rpm -q --qf '%{name:xml}\n' rpm
	<string>rpm</string>

All the above has been there since RHEL3. rpm5.org also has --yaml,
which is a bit easier on human eyes, but diff certainly doesn't care
what it is fed as long as the content is predictably format'ed.

The issue has always ben that certain tags have content like
build time or inode number that will always differ, and there's never
been a general way to filter out known differences.

I can likely filter out the stoopid %{dist} "branding" gook at the  
same time.

I have to roll some header content regression tests now
that both rpm-4.5 and rpm-5.0 are on release tracks.

Lemme see what I can hack up this weekend ... todo++.

73 de Jeff