How to Read from User in Rpm Install Script

How to run and interact with a script from within an RPM?

You are mixing several concepts here. So let make step back.

In %prep section you should unpack your %{SOURCE0} and apply patches if any. This usually do

%setup -q

However if you want you can extract it manually. For more info about this macro see http://www.rpm.org/max-rpm/s1-rpm-inside-macros.html

In %build section you usually compile source into binaries. Likely empty if you use interpreted language or your tar contains already compiled binaries.

In %install section you should copy the files into %{buildroot} and create there structure which will land in package. E.g. %{buildroot}/etc/yourconfig, %{buildroot}/usr/bin/yourcommand etc. You can run there any script you want, but keep in mind that it is run only in build time. I.e. only on your machine (or build system). This is intended for creating files which are automatically generated (e.g. documentation of libraries from source code).

Then you have section %post which is run on user machine after the package was installed. And all files are installed in final path. Not in buildroot. At the beginning you are changed to / so you need to specify full path on that user machine.

So in your case it should be probably look like:

%install
mkdir -p %{buildroot}%{_bindir}
cp -a %{installscript} %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/
chmod a+x %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/%{installscript}

%files
%{_bindir}/%{installscript}

%post
%{_bindir}%{installscript}

Sever notes:

1. %post section is executed under root, so sudo is not needed.

2. Running interactive script is strongly discouraged. RPM was designed as non-interactive and every utility around assume no interaction during package installation (e.g. PackageKit, Spacewalk etc.). So sooner then later you will get some compains. It is much safer to say user to run some command after installation manually (or automate it using Ansible or Puppet).

Passing user defined argument to RPM is possible while installing?

RPMs aren't meant to take user defined arguments.

See RPM - Install time parameters

Another similar question is at https://superuser.com/questions/408852/is-it-possible-to-get-users-input-during-installation-of-rpm

One workaround is to have the rpm's postinstall script ask for input from stdin, in which case you can pass in the answers by redirecting stdio from a file or here document.

>rpm -i sample.rpm <<__NOT_RECOMMENDED__
somearg
__NOT_RECOMMENDED__

RPM %post as a different user

If /usr/bin/something is something you are installing as part of the package, install it with something like

attr(4755, apache, apache)   /usr/bin/something

When installed like this, /usr/bin/something will always run as user apache, regardless of what user actually runs it.

How would I make read command work in RPM spec file?

Rather than embed the read within your package, RPM has a conditional mechanism which can be used via command-line parameters. Most usage of conditionals in RPMs tests constants defined in the system's RPM macros or making simple filesystem checks. You should investigate those first, because it allows your package to install without help from the person doing the install.

Here are some useful pages discussing RPM conditionals:

• Passing conditional parameters into a rpm build (rpm.org)
• PackagerDocs/ConditionalBuilds (rpm.org)
• Conditionals (Maximum RPM: Taking the Red Hat Package Manager to the Limit)
• openSUSE:RPM conditional builds

As one can see from the suggested reading, these are build-time rather than install-time features. You cannot make an "interactive" RPM install. To read more about that, see these pages:

• Is it possible to get user's input during installation of rpm?
• RPM - Install time parameters

The latter is clear that this is intentional on the part of the developers. As an aside, one response mentions the --relocate option, implying that this solves the problem. However, it is actually different. Read more about that here:

• Relocatable packages
• Chapter 15. Making a Relocatable Package (Maximum RPM)

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