How to debug %post with rpmbuild

Question

I'm building an RPM that needs to run a number of scripts to configure it after it's been installed to complete the installation. I have to run the scripts in the %post section because the configuration is dependent upon the type of host. All this is fairly easy and well, but every time I run into a bug with the %post section, I have to rebuild the entire package which takes about 20 minutes. Is there a way to skip recompiling everything and just build a new package with just the changes from %post?

Answer 1

If your spec file doesn't create a random build directory and won't delete that build tree afterwards, the more time consuming compiling can be omitted by make. I.e. Similar to not using the --clean option in rpmbuild.

You can then also use the --short-circuit flag to rpmbuild to skip the first stages in building.

Answer 2

Is the script doing something different when run manually vs. run from the RPM install? You can make a test RPM that has no %post, then manually run the script under test (as root). Do this on every host type that needs to be tested until you think you got it. Then add it as the %post and give it a try.