Quickly Package Go Binaries into RPMs with go-bin-rpm and Makefile

1. Environment Preparation

Install the necessary rpmbuild dependencies regardless of the programming language:

yum install -y gcc make rpm-build redhat-rpm-config

Install the open‑source tool go-bin-rpm using the following one‑liner:

wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mh-cbon/latest/master/bintray.sh \
| GH=mh-cbon/go-bin-rpm sh -xe

Verify the installation:

$ go-bin-rpm --version
go-bin-rpm version 1.0.0

2. Configuration File

The default configuration file for go-bin-rpm is rpm.json. A minimal example looks like this:

{
  "name": "you-service-name",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "release": "20221110",
  "arch": "x86_64",
  "summary": "",
  "description": "",
  "license": "iswbm.com",
  "url": "https://gtihub.com/iswbm/!name!",
  "files": [
    {
      "from": "./bin/!name!",
      "to": "/usr/local/!name!/",
      "base": "",
      "type": ""
    },
    {
      "from": "./!name!.service",
      "to": "/usr/lib/systemd/system/",
      "base": "",
      "type": ""
    }
  ]
}

If the installed package runs as a service, the files array should contain the binary, the service file, and any configuration files needed.

Example .service template:

[Unit]
Description=
After=syslog.target network.target

[Service]
Environment=key=value
Type=simple
NotifyAccess=all
TimeoutStartSec=0
Restart=always
User=root
ExecStart=/usr/local/xxxx/bin/xxxx

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Generate the RPM with:

# Replace VERSION and RELEASE accordingly
go-bin-rpm generate -o rpms/xxxx-$(VERSION)-$(RELEASE).rpm

For multiple binaries or platforms, prepare separate rpm.json files and specify them with -f rpm.json during generation.

3. Using a Makefile

To simplify the workflow, create a Makefile like the following:

VERSION = 1.0.0
RELEASE = $(shell date +"%Y%m%d")

.PHONY: build-go
build-go:
	go build -o ./bin/hello .

.PHONY: build
build: build-go
	sed -i "s/VERSION/$(VERSION)/g" rpm.json
	sed -i "s/RELEASE/$(RELEASE)/g" rpm.json
	mkdir -p rpms
	go-bin-rpm generate -o rpms/hellp-$(VERSION)-$(RELEASE).rpm

Running make build will compile the Go binary, inject the version and release into rpm.json, create the output directory, and produce the RPM in a single step.