You are correct. It is not.
Since those macros get updated on a regular basis, if we did put something in, it would be hard to keep it up to date. Maybe just a note that says they exists and a link to the macros files.

If you were looking for it in the EPEL documentation, where would you expect it to be?

My sense is it’d be https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/epel/epel-packaging/, since that’s the first place we go for EPEL-specific nuances after having studied the Fedora Packaging Guidelines.

I agree it’s just the existence of epel-rpm-macros that needs to be pointed out, and not an exhaustive list of the macros per se (which can be queried on cli in any case).

epel-rpm-macros is probably one of the first things an apprentice EPEL packager wants to get familiarised with, given a large part of what we do when working on new packages is convert existing Fedora packages. epel-rpm-macros facilitates this work by filling in the missing macros.

My sense is it’d be https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/epel/epel-packaging/, since that’s the first place we go for EPEL-specific nuances after having studied the Fedora Packaging Guidelines.

I agree it’s just the existence of epel-rpm-macros that needs to be pointed out, and not an exhaustive list of the macros per se (which can be queried on cli in any case).

+1. A PR would be welcome!

epel-rpm-macros is probably one of the first things an apprentice EPEL packager wants to get familiarised with, given a large part of what we do when working on new packages is convert existing Fedora packages. epel-rpm-macros facilitates this work by filling in the missing macros.

I tend to disagree. The average EPEL packager should not have to think about epel-rpm-macros. It's an out of the way package that allows us to backport select macros from Fedora that are infeasible to get into RHEL proper for whatever reason. I'd doubt EPEL packagers really care where the macros are defined. They just want Fedora specfiles to build in EPEL with minimal to no changes.

I tend to disagree. The average EPEL packager should not have to think about epel-rpm-macros. It's an out of the way package that allows us to backport select macros from Fedora that are infeasible to get into RHEL proper for whatever reason. I'd doubt EPEL packagers really care where the macros are defined. They just want Fedora specfiles to build in EPEL with minimal to no changes.

Thanks for bringing this up! I actually think yours is a more accurate description of the average EPEL packager. epel-rpm-macros is just something they want to make sure they’ve installed.

Completed in #239.

This issue has been migrated to Fedora Forge:
https://forge.fedoraproject.org/epel/steering/issues/235

Please continue any further discussion there.