Howto build a rpm package without root privileges

In the howto Howto build an executable from a source rpm we explained how build from a source RPM a binary RPM file as a plain user (non-root). What do we need to get started?

Login in as plain user (this works for all RedHat alike Linux Operating Systems):

cd $HOME
mkdir RPM
cd RPM
mkdir BUILD RPMS SOURCES SPECS SRPMS

Once the above directories are created you still need to edit the ~/.rpmmacros files which should contain the following lines:

%_topdir  ~/RPM
%__check_files         /usr/lib/rpm/check-files %{buildroot}
%_unpackaged_files_terminate_build      1
%_missing_doc_files_terminate_build     1

Thereafter, you can download a source RPM and install it with the rpm command into your local ~/RPM/SOURCES directory. For example,

rpm -ivh /tmp/ash-v0.3.8-20.src.rpm

That’s it for this howto. See the howto mentioned above for details on how to proceed.