Well this isn't very important, but it is something I would like to do if possible.

I'm tweaking my RPM a bit including some extra error checking above and beyond what RPM does itself. This includes having my %pre script looking for signs that java is probably not configured correctly for our application.

Now originally I was just going to exit with an error message when I thought java was mis-configured, but I’m not cretin that’s the best option. I can only say that things are probably not properly configured, but I can’t be certain they aren’t. I don't want the RPM to refuse to install because it mistakenly thinks something is broken when it isn’t. Ideally I would print an error message and give the user the option to choice rather to continue the installation; either by being prompted for a yes/no or by running the RPM installation with an argument that forces the install.

I tried prompting for input and using the read command; but I never have an opportunity to input anything when I install the RPM. The read command complains about "too many arguments" and the RPM continues installing without waiting for input.

So is there a method to have an RPM warn about the error but still provide the user a means to force the install if they choice?

Why not let rpm exit with your error message, and then simply rerun
'rpm -i --force <pkgname.rpm>

It is, but not in the sense you think it is...


Yes. You want that. You just didn't know you wanted that.


Remember a good portion of RPM installations or upgrades will be automated. So no user interaction should be required. Forcing user interaction, meaning forcing a non-standard way of handling RPM, is unnecessary, unwanted and not like RPM is designed and intended to be used. In short: be aware of breaking things for reasons other than what RPM requires. And if a problem exists due to an installation problem with other package X then fixing that problem should be addressed in package X.