[NTLUG:Discuss] more rpm madness, and advice needed

[krannen@gte.net]

I'm having to redo yet another server, going back in time to RH6.2 however. 
Back when various useful packages that are on the 7.1 CD are not on the 6.2 
CD.  (I'm still looking for a YAST-like rpm program from RH which I guess I'll 
have to build myself, but I digress...)

So now I'm in a maze of twisty passages all different because when I find 
these extra rpms I need, I'm finding them in the newer rpm-4.0.2 format 
instead of the original RH6.2 rpm-3.0.5 format.  At first glance it all seems 
OK, until I go retrieve a SRPM file and find that the newer rpm4 will not 
build anything!  Yes, my much sought after and man page gleaned "rpm -bc 
whatever.spec" command will no longer work!  (it's definitely a conspiracy :-) 
  To make matters worse, the man pages says that's legal, but the command 
itself (and its usage statement) say it's not, and offer no build commands. 
ARRRGGHH!  I really would like to virtually pound someone...may be time to 
play Doom for awhile to relieve my frustration. :-)

Has anyone managed to build binaries from a SRPM using rpm4?  That should be 
the version in upgraded 6.2 and probably all 7.x releases.  (I don't have 7.0, 
but it's there in 7.1 for sure.)

TIA,
Kevin