Maximum RPM (RPM) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The complete reference for the RPM software package that is the heart of the Red Hat Linux distribution. Designed for both the novice and advanced users, Maximum RPM enables anyone to take full advantage of the benefits of building software packages with the Red Hat Package management tools to ensure that they install simply and accurately each and every time.

From the Publisher

The complete reference for the RPM software package that is the heart of the Red Hat Linux distribution. Designed for both the novice and advanced users, Maximum RPM enables anyone to take full advantage of the benefits of building software packages with the Red Hat Package management tools to ensure that they install simply and accurately each and every time. - The most requested topic for a book from Linux users, according to Red Hat software's research

- Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) enables administators to effectively manage the roll out of consistent software and upgrades to users

- Written by the creators of the software for all levels of users (software developers, computer science students, and Linux system administrators)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 450 pages
• Publisher: Sams; 1st edition (August 16, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672311054
• ISBN-13: 978-0672311055
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #851,305 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Necessary for making RPMS. Getting obsolete., September 28, 1999

By A Customer

The other reviewers' negative comments are mostly on track. The book is not all that well organized. It is an absolute necessity if you are going to develop RPMs, however. The man pages are really incomplete, so you need the book to do what the man pages should have done. The book provides more than man pages would have, since it includes many examples.

I find with the latest versions of RPM that the book is getting obsolete. The syntax of the .rpmrc file has changed. Important rpm version variables such as EPOCH are not documented. One must also read the source code to develop RPMS and RPM tools.

I would give this book a B+ for when it was originally published, but it only gets a C+ today because it is getting obsolete. Red Hat should produce a 2nd edition and spend a little effort organizing it.

At least the current version actually contains much technical information. Let's hope it doesn't degenerate into a non-technical book in some future edition.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maximum RPM is a fine book., January 23, 2000

By A Customer

The other reviews puzzle me---I was able to get any and all information out of this book I needed. I read it yesterday and today am creating relatively complicated RPMs with subpackages. I find the book to be well laid out and the index to be comprehensive and helpful. If you want to learn all about RPM, this is an excellent book. Despite being a couple of years old, this book didn't appear to have any out of date information; I don't think RPM has changed enough in the past few years to make this book obsolete.

This book accomplishes what it set out to do, explain how to use RPM and build packages, and it does a fine job.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Obsolete, January 9, 2003

By A Customer

This was probably a good book when it came out, but since then rpm has changed significantly. If Redhat would at least publish a consise list of the changes to the commands, I'd change my rating to 3 or 4 stars. As it is, you cannot use this book to diagnose problem in creating spec files or designing high-quality spec files. Until it is revised, you are better off looking at the man pages and how other people have written spec files.