My system doesn't seem to want to run newer Linux versions than RedHat 7.0, or Mandrake 7.2 (based on 2.2 kernel), due to a strange SCSI setup.

For the most part, this doesn't leave me really crippled, since I can get source RPMs and they compile fairly easily, and the same goes with source tarballs. For ease in archiving, I'd like to be able to build binary and source RPMs out of the tarballs. My experience has been more misses than hits in using the command: rpm -ta to build the binary RPMs. Typically, RPM reports back that the following fields are missing from the main package and refuses to proceed:

Name, Version, Release, Summary, Group, and License.

How are these fields added, and what syntax on RPM should I use?

Look into using the alien program to just convert the tarball to an rpm.

makes rpms, debs or slack tarballs out of source: look over there ->
http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/checkinstall/

The solution of using CheckInstall was what I was looking for. Tested it, and it works great. Many Thanks!

I tried Alien, and it works, but is a bit slow. Might be better on binaries, tho.

Many thanks!