Changes/RPM-4.19

RPM 4.19

Summary

Update RPM to the 4.19 release.

Owner

• Name: Florian Festi
• Email: ffesti@redhat.com

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora Linux 39
• Last updated: 2023-05-20
• devel thread
• FESCo issue: #2980
• Tracker bug: #2187480
• Release notes tracker: #979

Completed items

• Acquire a side tag: f39-build-side-67564
• Build rpm with bundling old libraries
• Rebuild reverse dependencies:
  • anaconda-39.15-2.fc39 - build-requires s390utils, run-requires dnf
  • dnf5-5.0.11-3.fc39
  • fapolicyd-1.2-5.fc39
  • freeipa - dlopens librpm for an unchanged rpmvercmp() [1], skipped.
  • frr-8.5.1-2.fc39 - build-requires net-snmp
  • libappstream-glib-0.8.2-3.fc39
  • libdnf-0.70.1-3.fc39
  • libdnf-plugin-swidtags-0.8.8-8.fc39 - build-requires libdnf
  • libextractor-1.10-10.fc39
  • libguestfs-1.51.3-2.fc39
  • libsolv-0.7.24-4.fc39
  • libzypp-17.31.8-2.fc39
  • microdnf-3.9.0-3.fc39 - build-require libnf, run-requires dnf
  • net-snmp-5.9.3-3.fc39
  • openscap-1.3.7-3.fc39
  • PackageKit-1.2.6-8.fc39 - build-requires libappstream-glib, libdnf
  • perl-RPM-VersionCompare-0.1.1-45.fc39
  • perl-RPM2-1.4-23.fc39
  • php-pecl-rpminfo-0.6.0-9.fc39
  • rpm-ostree-2023.4-3.fc39 - build-requiers libsolv, frequent updates
  • rpmreaper-0.2.0-30.fc39
  • rust-blsctl-0.2.3-11.fc39
  • s390utils-2.26.0-2.fc39 - build-requires net-snmp
  • satyr-0.42-2.fc39
  • supermin-5.3.3-5.fc39
  • transactional-update-3.6.2-6.fc39

In progress items

• Rebuild reverse dependencies:
  • abrt - needs adapting to RPM 4.19 C API, patch submitted upstream
  • rpminspect - needs adapting to RPM 4.19 C API, patch submitted upstream
  • rpmconf - needs adapting to RPM 4.19 Python API, patch submitted upstream
  • rpm-git-tag-sort-1.0-12.fc39 - unrelated FTBFS build failure, bug report

To be done items

• Rebuild reverse dependencies:
  • annobin - a racing update: annobin-12.10-2.fc39
  • gnome-software - a racing update: gnome-software-44.1-2.fc39
  • rust-rpm-sequoia - no dependency on rpm, skip it?
  • systemtap - a racing update: systemtap-4.9-1.fc39
• Rebuild rpm without old libraries
• Synchronize packages updated in parallel in Rawhide
• Create a Bodhi update from the side-tag
• Check update test results

Detailed Description

RPM 4.19 contains various improvements over previous versions. Many of them are internal in nature such as moving from automake to cmake, improvements to the test suite, stripping copies of system functions, splitting translations into a separate project and more. There are still several user facing changes:

• New rpmsort(8) utility for sorting RPM versions
• x86-64 architecture levels (v2-v4) as architectures
• Support for %preuntrans and %postuntrans scriptlets
• Creating User and Groups from sysusers.d files including Provides and Requires or Recommends
• Dynamic Spec generation
  • find_lang now being able to generate language sub packages

The 4.19 alpha release is expected in April and the final release is expected in time for the Fedora 39 release cycle as usual.

Benefit to Fedora

This release comes with many improvements. It opens the possibility for Fedora to adopt the new major features mentioned above.

Scope

• Proposal owners:
  • Release RPM 4.19 alpha
  • Rebase RPM
  • Assist with dealing with incompatibilities
  • Integrate/Disable new User/Group handling
    • Conflicts with the current one including the Provides generation in systemd-rpm-macros
    • Switching this on will need another global change (if Fedora decides to do so)

• Other developers:
  • Test new release, report issues and bugs

• Release engineering: #Releng issue number

• Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Alignment with Community Initiatives:

Upgrade/compatibility impact

• %patch without arguments and options is an error
• %patchN syntax is deprecated
• File globbing is now more consistent

How To Test

Rpm receives a thorough and constant testing via every single package build, system installs and updates. New features can be tested specifically as per their documentation.

User Experience

There are no major differences in the normal user experience.

Dependencies

• Deprecated APIs are removed. This may require adjustments to software still using them.
• so-name of librpm changes. Packages depending on it are expected to need a re-build
• Packages running in the changes mentioned in the Upgrade/compatibility impact section might need adjusting. This should be relatively rare, though.

Contingency Plan

• Contingency mechanism: Revert back to RPM 4.18
• Contingency deadline: Beta freeze
• Blocks release? No

Documentation

Release notes at https://rpm.org/wiki/Releases/4.19.0 and reference manual at https://rpm-software-management.github.io/rpm/manual/

Release Notes

https://rpm.org/wiki/Releases/4.19.0 (still work in progress)