From Fedora Project Wiki
This is my incomplete checklist:
Review Guidelines
-----------------
URL: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:ReviewGuidelines
Stand: 2010-02-27
() - SHOULD
[] - MUST
{} - external Guidelines
<> - Optional / common sense
[] rpmlint output:
[] Spec in %{name}.spec format
[] license allowed:
[] license matches shortname in License: tag
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing
[] license in tarball and included in %doc:
[] package is code or permissive content:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#CodeVsContent
{} patches sent to upstream and commented
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/PatchUpstreamStatus
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Minutes20080506
[] Source0 is a working URL
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/SourceURL
{} Sourceforge URL is Source0: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/%{name}/%{name}-%{version}.tar.gz
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/SourceURL#Sourceforge.net
<> SourceX / PatchY prefixed with %{name}
[] Source0 matches Upstream:
{} Smallest compressed archive used
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:SourceURL
<> Latest version is packaged
[] Package builds on all primary architectures:
[] ExcludeArch bugs are filed and commented:
[] BuildRequires are complete (mock builds)
() No file dependencies outside of /etc /bin /sbin /usr/bin /usr/sbin
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#FileDeps
[] %find_lang used for locales
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#Handling_Locale_Files
in %install: %find_lang %{name}
%files -f %{name}.lang
Maybe: BuildRequires: gettext
[] Every (sub)package containing libraries runs ldconfig
%post -p /sbin/ldconfig
%postun -p /sbin/ldconfig
[] .h (header) files are in -devel subpackage
[] .a (static libraries) are in -static subpackage
[] contains .pc (pkgconfig) files and has Requires: pkgconfig
() .pc files are in -devel subpackage
[] contains .so.X(.Y) files and .so is in -devel
[] -devel subpackage has Requires: %{name} = %{version}-%{release}
[] .la files (libtool) are not included
[] does not bundle copies of system libraries
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Guidelines#Duplication_of_system_libraries
[] Has GUI and includes %{name}.desktop
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#desktop
[] Follows desktop entry spec
http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/desktop-entry-spec-latest.html
[] Valid .desktop Name
[] Valid .desktop GenericName
[] Valid .desktop Categories
http://standards.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/latest/apa.html
[] Valid .desktop StartupNotify
http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/startup-notification-spec?action=show&redirect=Standards%2Fstartup-notification-spec
[] .desktop file installed with desktop-file-install in %install
[] Prefix: /usr not used (not relocatable)
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#Relocatable_packages
[] Owns all created directories
[] no duplicates in %files
[] %defattr(-,root,root,-) is in every %files section
[] Does not own files or dirs from other packages
[] included filenames are in UTF-8
[] %clean is rm -rf %{buildroot} or $RPM_BUILD_ROOT
[] %install starts with rm -rf %{buildroot} or $RPM_BUILD_ROOT
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#PreppingBuildRootForInstall
[] Consistent macro usage
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#macros
[] large documentation is -doc subpackage
[] %doc does not affect runtime
() Contains manpage for every executable
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#Man_pages
<> %check is present and all tests pass
Packaging Guidelines
--------------------
URL: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines
Stand: 2009-04-13
{} no pre-built binaries (.a, .so*, executable)
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#No_inclusion_of_pre-built_binaries_or_libraries
find -print0 -type f | xargs -0 file | cut -d" " -f 2- | sed 's/^ *//' | sort -u
{} well known BuildRoot
%(mktemp -ud %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-%{release}-XXXXXX)
%{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-%{release}-root-%(%{__id_u} -n)
%{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-%{release}-root
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#BuildRoot_tag
{} PreReq not used
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#PreReq
{} RPM_OPT_FLAGS honoured
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#Compiler_flags
{} Useful debuginfo generated
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#Debuginfo_packages
{} no duplication of system libraries
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#Duplication_of_system_libraries
{} no rpath
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#Beware_of_Rpath
{} Timestamps preserved with cp and install
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#Timestamps
{} Uses parallel make (%{?_smp_mflags})
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#Parallel_make
{} Requires(pre,post) style notation not used
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#Scriptlets_requirements
{} only writes to tmp /var/tmp $TMPDIR %{_tmppath} %{_builddir} (and %{buildroot} on %install and %clean)
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#Scriplets_are_only_allowed_to_write_in_certain_directories
{} no Conflicts
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Conflicts
{} nothing installed in /srv
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#No_Files_or_Directories_under_.2Fsrv
{} Changelog in allowed format
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#Changelogs
{} does not use Scriptlets
There are some rules...
<> Architecture independent packages have: BuildArch: noarch
<> Sane Provides: and Requires:
Naming Guidelines
-----------------
URL: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/NamingGuidelines
{} Follows Naming Guidelines
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/NamingGuidelines
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/NamingGuidelines#Pre-Release_packages
ScriptletSnippets Guidelines
----------------------------
URL: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/ScriptletSnippets
{} shared libraries scriptlet
{} %{_sysconfdir}/gconf/schemas/*.schemas - gconf handling
{} %{_infodir} - texinfo handling
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/ScriptletSnippets#Texinfo
{} scrollkeeper
{} .desktop files with MimeType
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/ScriptletSnippets#desktop-database
{} %{_datadir}/mime/packages. mimeinfo
{} %{_datadir}/icons/hicolor GTK+ Icon Cache
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/ScriptletSnippets#GTK.2B_icon_cache
{} %{_datadir}/fonts Fonts
Debuginfo Guidelines
--------------------
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Debuginfo
{} follows special guidelines
Cmake
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/cmake
Eclipse
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/EclipsePlugins
Emacs
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Emacs
Fonts
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/FontsPolicy
Java
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Java
Mono
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Mono
OCaml
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/OCaml
OpenOffice.org
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/OpenOffice.orgExtensions
Perl
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Perl
PHP
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/PHP
Python
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Python
{} Has BuildRequires: python2-devel and/or python3-devel
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Python#BuildRequires
{} Defines and uses %{python_sitelib} or %{python_sitearch}:
%if ! (0%{?fedora} > 12 || 0%{?rhel} > 5)
%{!?python_sitelib: %global python_sitelib %(%{__python} -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib())")}
%{!?python_sitearch: %global python_sitearch %(%{__python} -c "from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; print(get_python_lib(1))")}
%endif
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Python#Macros
{} Has BuildRequires: python-setuptools-devel
[] Python eggs must be built from source. They cannot simply drop an egg from upstream into the proper directory.
[] Python eggs must not download any dependencies during the build process.
[] If egg-info files are generated by the modules build scripts they must be included in the package.
[] When building a compat package, it must install using easy_install -m so it won't conflict with the main package.
[] When building multiple versions (for a compat package) one of the packages must contain a default version that is usable via "import MODULE" with no prior setup.
() A package which is used by another package via an egg interface should provide egg info.
{} Egg install:
%install
%{__python} setup.py install --skip-build --root $RPM_BUILD_ROOT
R
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/R
Ruby
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Ruby
Sugar
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/SugarActivityGuidelines
Tcl/Tk
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Tcl
Haskell
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Haskell