RPMTools

RPMTools is an open-source toolkit designed to streamline the creation, verification, and distribution of RPM packages on RPM-based Linux distributions. It provides a coordinated set of utilities and conventions intended to simplify packaging workflows for maintainers, distributors, and builders.

The project centers on a modular set of components that wrap and augment the standard RPM tooling. Core elements include wrappers around rpmbuild, rpm, and rpmsign, as well as a packaging manifest, source acquisition, patch application, and metadata generation. A build orchestration layer offers common targets for setup, build, test, sign, and release steps, while a repository management interface facilitates staging, promotion between environments, and signing enforcement. The toolkit emphasizes reproducible builds, policy compliance, and cross-distribution consistency.

RPMTools is designed to be architecture- and distribution-agnostic, with plugins to handle distro-specific quirks and a lightweight API for integration with continuous integration systems. It supports local development workflows as well as automated release pipelines and is commonly used by maintainers for packaging in corporate, academic, and community projects.

Development and governance are community-driven, with contributions governed by an open-source license and a public issue tracker. The project maintains documentation, best-practices guidelines, and a set of example spec files to help new maintainers adopt a consistent approach.

External resources and community channels provide tutorials, mailing lists, and repository hosting where users can participate in bug reports, feature requests, and packaging tutorials. RPMTools aims to be a practical, neutral toolkit that complements existing RPM ecosystems rather than replacing them.