Packaging/SUSE Package Conventions/RPM Groups

From openSUSE

2. RPM Groups

This section contains a full list of RPM groups that are used in the SUSE's packages. The RPM groups are sorted. A comment is added only if the RPM group name is not sufficiently descriptive.

2.1. Amusement

The group Amusements/Teaching contains things that are educational. So most of the applications in this group are useful in schools - but not necessarily in universities.

The group Amusements/Toys contains things that entertain users but are not real games.

2.2. Development

The group Development has been created to help software developers. Normal users should never need to select a package from this group manually. The libraries must be installed to run applications, but they are installed automatically due to dependencies.

The group Development/Languages is intended for tools that are useful or even necessary for developing in a particular programming language. This is the right place for compilers, interpreters, and programming language–dependent tools.

The group Development/Libraries is intended for packages that allow developing with a library. They are primarily sorted by programming language. However, there are also special groups for KDE, GNOME, and YaST libraries. Here, developers should find all available libraries that can be used in more projects. This means that specialized libraries are usually included in one package together with the application. Such packages are then in the group Productivity. Other common libraries must be separated from the application. The -devel subpackage is then in the group Development/Libraries. The subpackage providing files necessary to run applications is in the group System/Libraries. Finally, a potential -doc subpackage is in the group Documentation. If all files (necessary at runtime, for development, and documentation) are included in one package, it must be placed in Development/Libraries so it can be found by developers.

The group Development/Sources is intended for binary packages containing sources. It is the right place for the packages with kernel sources and kernel module sources.

The group Development/Tools contains tools useful for developing that are not connected to a particular programming language.

2.3. Documentation

The group Documentation is intended for all packages with documentation that is put in an extra package.

2.4. Hardware

The group Hardware contains tools supporting a special hardware.

Metapackages

The group Metapackages contains packages with should normally not end on any installation source. They contain files which should end on the media himself like README.txt, License files, documentation or DOS utilities.

If you install such a package, you'll find a new directory /CD1 in your rootdirectory, containing the files which should end on the first installation media or the installation source. The package can install additional files in /usr/share/<packagename>. If the package contains multiple themes, they go to /usr/share/<packagename>/themes/<name> for example.

2.5. Productivity

The group Productivity is huge and is intended for the packages most important to the average user: the applications used to produce something. In fact, the packages from almost all other groups make the environment (System) or provide a functionality (Development/Libraries, System/Libraries) needed by applications from the group Productivity.

The group Productivity/File utilities is intended for tools for basic operations with files. These are packages like file and findutils and file managers like mc, nautilus, or ytree.

The group Productivity/Hamradio is intended for Linux ham radio (Amateur radio) applications and related utilities.

The group Productivity/Networking is intended for packages providing various networking services and related tools.

The group Productivity/Publishing is intended for packages used to publish information. The applications from this group usually need more experienced users than similar applications from the group Productivity/Office.

The group Productivity/Security is intended for security related stuff like virus scanners, safe password generators, utilities for encrypting, decrypting, signing data, and permission settings (package permission).

2.6. System

The packages in the group System make the base of the operating system. They are important for the system administrator and the normal user should not need to know much about them. They only make an environment in which to run applications from other groups, like Productivity or Amusement.

The group System/Base is intended for the base system tools. It includes packages like eject, insserv, man, sed, sudo, tar, and ulimit.

The group System/Benchmark is intended for packages providing benchmarks and various test suites.

The group System/Boot is intended for tools related to system booting. It contains packages with boot loaders, image builders, boot splash themes, memory test, etc.

The group System/Console is intended for console-specific packages like fbset, gpm, kbd and vlock.

The group System/Daemons is intended for the base system daemons. These are packages like at, autofs, nscd, powersave, or syslogd.

The group System/Emulators is intended for emulators of various operating systems. Packages like dosemu, wine, wmware or atari800 are found here.

The group System/Fhs is intended for packages creating the base directory structure according to FHS (File Hierarchy System). These are packages like filesystem, aaa_base, or devs.

The group System/Filesystems is intended for file system–related tools. These are packages like quota, dosfstools, reiserfs, reaidtools, and xfstools.

The group System/GUI contains window managers and related tools. Some window managers have their own specific variants or ports of applications, but this group is not for applications or libraries. Such packages must be put in groups like Productivity, Development, or Amusements.

The group System/I18n is intended for packages providing special support for the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean localizations.

The group System/Kernel contains kernel binaries and kernel-related tools like module-init-tools. The packages with kernel sources and kernel modules sources are in the group Development/Sources.

The group System/Libraries is intended for packages providing the part of libraries necessary to run applications. All packages in this group should be installed automatically because of a dependency. Neither users nor developers should need to search for packages in this group. This means that these must not provide any application. Such packages must be in the group Productivity. This also means that the libraries in this group must have a corresponding -devel subpackage in the group Development/Libraries, so that the developers are able to find the library there. Otherwise, the one package, including both the runtime and development related parts, must be in the group Development/Libraries.

The group System/Localization contains language specific subpackages which are splittet out of a main package. With openSUSE > 10.3 this is done automatically using the macro %lang_package in the specfile.

The group System/Management is intended for various GUI, text, or web-based tools used to manage the system. However, the YaST modules have their own group System/YaST.

The group System/Monitoring is intended for tools monitoring the system directly or by analyzing logs.

The group System/Packages is intended for packages related to package management, like alien, deb, or rpm.

The group System/Sound Daemons is intended for sound daemons despite they can be primary developed for a special usage. For example, there are sound daemons for GNOME (esound) or WindowMaker ( wsndsrv).

The group System/X11 is intended for the base graphical system. Window managers belong in System/GUI.

The System/YaST group is intended for all YaST-related packages. All YaST modules especially should be put in this group.