Need new option to control RPM compression level

[jsolomon8080]

The default "_binary_payload" setting for fpm RPM generation is "w9.gzdio".

I'm generating a very large RPM using fpm and with that setting, the package takes 9 minutes to create. The same fpm command produces a debian package in 3 minutes.

When I use "--rpm-compression none", the RPM creation time drops to 2 minutes but the package size doubles.

If I hack lib/fpm/package/rpm.rb and change the gzip default value to w5.gzdio, the RPM takes 3 minutes and is within 10MB of the size of the original package.

The RPM default on my system is w2.xzdio while the xz default in fpm is w9.xzdio.

My first suggestion would be crank down the fpm defaults from 9 to 4 or 5 across the board.

If fpm wants to keep the compression levels cranked all the way up, then I would like a way to override the level so I can save 6 minutes every time I create my RPM.

I tried specifying --rpm-rpmbuild-define "_binary_payload w5.gzdio" but that doesn't work because you can't override a macro definition on the rpmbuild command line that already is defined in the spec file.

In summary, I can see tackling this a few ways:

1. Change the default to level 5. Done

2. Specify a new option --rpm-compression-level that defaults to 9 but can be set from 0 to 9 and will be used as number next to the "w" in "w9.gzdio".

3. Specify the spec file macro to respect some new define like "_custom_binary_payload" that someone could set via the command line (using --rpm-rpmbuild-define) and will override the given value of _binary_payload if set. Something like:

%define _binary_payload %{?_custom_binary_payload}%{?!_custom_binary_payload:<%= payload_compression %>}

[jsolomon8080]

I'm happy to create the change and submit for review if the fpm owners tell me which solution they like.

[jsolomon8080]

I implemented option 2 in #1676

[efiop]

Looks like this should be closed now, since #1676 is merged. CC @jsolomon8080

[jsolomon8080]

Closing.