But, really, RPM can still service my balls.

[grumpy_sysadmin]

Is this even English?
The first thing you'll probably want to to is get the source to build cleanly without using RPM. To do this, unpack the sources, and change the directory name to $NAME.orig. Then unpack the source again. Use this source to build from.
Wait, what? I mean, I'm even letting the complete Fail at 5th grade grammar go, but I'm

Comments

[sweh]

From the previous chapter... (Please note that these "$" variables are not real variables available within the spec file. They are really just used here in place of a sample name. You need to use the real name and version in your package, not a variable.)

If you're gonna rant about shit (and, I agree, rpm documentation is pretty bad) at least read the whole thing first rather than just jumping into the middle.

As is so happens, the section you just quoted from explains why to extract it twice; it's so you have a pristine source to create a patch against, if necessary.

[grumpy_sysadmin]

I was ranting about their (poor) use of the English language, not so much about the technical content.

[crabbyolbastard]

rpm -i --force myballs.i386.rpm

[grumpy_sysadmin]

There's a yum(8) joke in here somewhere...