Preparing the RPM Building Tree

Create your ~/.rpmmacros file.  Mine looks something like this:

 %_topdir                /home/iadonisi/redhat
 %_builddir              %{_topdir}/BUILD
 %_rpmdir                %{_topdir}/RPMS
 %_sourcedir             %{_topdir}/SOURCES
 %_specdir               %{_topdir}/SPECS
 %_srcrpmdir             %{_topdir}/SRPMS
 %packager               Paul Iadonisi <pri.gnhlug@iadonisi.to>
 %distribution           The Linux Lobbyist <ll@iadonisi.to>

Be sure to create the ~/redhat, BUILD, RPMS, SOURCES, SPECS, and SRPMS directories above.