OpenZFS RPM & DEB Builder

Build OpenZFS packages for multiple enterprise Linux and Ubuntu distributions using Podman containers. This tool downloads OpenZFS source tarballs from GitHub releases and builds reproducible RPM and DEB packages with custom changelogs attributing the build to 45Drives.

Features

Podman-based builds: Isolated, reproducible container builds (no daemon required)
Multi-distribution support: Build for 6 distributions in a single command
- Rocky Linux: 8, 9, 10 (RPM-based)
- Ubuntu: 20.04 LTS, 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS (DEB-based)
Official OpenZFS best practices: Follows dependencies and build methods from OpenZFS official documentation
Configurable versions: Build any OpenZFS version available on GitHub releases
DKMS support: Packages include DKMS support for dynamic kernel module building
Custom changelogs: Single changelog entry: "Built by 45Drives - no source code modifications"
Command-line friendly: Simple CLI or Makefile targets
Multi-platform: Works on any Linux system with Podman installed

Prerequisites

Podman (version 3.0+) - Install via your distribution's package manager
- RHEL/CentOS: dnf install podman
- Ubuntu/Debian: apt-get install podman
- Fedora: dnf install podman
Sufficient disk space: ~3-5 GB per build for source and build artifacts
Network access: Required to download OpenZFS source tarballs from GitHub

Quick Start

Using the Shell Script

# Rocky Linux RPM builds
./build.sh rocky8 2.4.1      # Build RPM for Rocky Linux 8
./build.sh rocky9 2.4.1      # Build RPM for Rocky Linux 9
./build.sh rocky10 2.4.1     # Build RPM for Rocky Linux 10

# Ubuntu DEB builds
./build.sh ubuntu20 2.4.1    # Build DEB for Ubuntu 20.04
./build.sh ubuntu22 2.4.1    # Build DEB for Ubuntu 22.04
./build.sh ubuntu24 2.4.1    # Build DEB for Ubuntu 24.04

# Build all distributions at once
./build.sh all 2.4.1

Using Make

# Rocky Linux builds
make build-rocky8 VERSION=2.4.1
make build-rocky9 VERSION=2.4.1
make build-rocky10 VERSION=2.4.1

# Ubuntu builds
make build-ubuntu20 VERSION=2.4.1
make build-ubuntu22 VERSION=2.4.1
make build-ubuntu24 VERSION=2.4.1

# Build all distributions
make build-all VERSION=2.4.1

# Clean output packages
make clean

# Remove Podman images
make podman-clean

Usage Details

Supported Distributions

Rocky Linux (RPM-based):

rocky8 - Rocky Linux 8 (RHEL 8 compatible)
rocky9 - Rocky Linux 9 (RHEL 9 compatible)
rocky10 - Rocky Linux 10 (RHEL 10 compatible)

Ubuntu (DEB-based):

ubuntu20 - Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)
ubuntu22 - Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)
ubuntu24 - Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat)

Version Format

The version argument accepts standard semantic versioning:

2.4.1 (recommended)
zfs-2.4.1 (also accepted, zfs- prefix is stripped)

Output Locations

Built packages are saved to organized by distribution:

Rocky 8 RPMs: output/rocky8/
Rocky 9 RPMs: output/rocky9/
Rocky 10 RPMs: output/rocky10/
Ubuntu 20 DEBs: output/ubuntu20/
Ubuntu 22 DEBs: output/ubuntu22/
Ubuntu 24 DEBs: output/ubuntu24/

Example output structure:

output/
├── rocky8/
│   ├── zfs-utils-2.4.1-45drives1.el8.x86_64.rpm
│   ├── libzfs7-2.4.1-45drives1.el8.x86_64.rpm
│   ├── libzfs-devel-2.4.1-45drives1.el8.x86_64.rpm
│   └── zfs-dkms-2.4.1-45drives1.el8.noarch.rpm
├── rocky9/
│   ├── zfs-utils-2.4.1-45drives1.el9.x86_64.rpm
│   ├── libzfs7-2.4.1-45drives1.el9.x86_64.rpm
│   ├── libzfs-devel-2.4.1-45drives1.el9.x86_64.rpm
│   └── zfs-dkms-2.4.1-45drives1.el9.noarch.rpm
├── rocky10/
│   ├── zfs-utils-2.4.1-45drives1.el10.x86_64.rpm
│   ├── libzfs7-2.4.1-45drives1.el10.x86_64.rpm
│   ├── libzfs-devel-2.4.1-45drives1.el10.x86_64.rpm
│   └── zfs-dkms-2.4.1-45drives1.el10.noarch.rpm
├── ubuntu20/
│   ├── openzfs-zfsutils_2.4.1-45drives1_amd64.deb
│   ├── openzfs-libzfs7_2.4.1-45drives1_amd64.deb
│   ├── openzfs-libzfs-dev_2.4.1-45drives1_amd64.deb
│   └── openzfs-zfs-dkms_2.4.1-45drives1_all.deb
├── ubuntu22/
│   ├── openzfs-zfsutils_2.4.1-45drives1_amd64.deb
│   ├── openzfs-libzfs7_2.4.1-45drives1_amd64.deb
│   ├── openzfs-libzfs-dev_2.4.1-45drives1_amd64.deb
│   └── openzfs-zfs-dkms_2.4.1-45drives1_all.deb
└── ubuntu24/
    ├── openzfs-zfsutils_2.4.1-45drives1_amd64.deb
    ├── openzfs-libzfs7_2.4.1-45drives1_amd64.deb
    ├── openzfs-libzfs-dev_2.4.1-45drives1_amd64.deb
    └── openzfs-zfs-dkms_2.4.1-45drives1_all.deb

Built Packages

Rocky Linux RPM Packages (Rocky 8, 9, 10)

zfs-utils - User-space utilities and libraries
libzfs7 - ZFS library (version 7 ABI)
libzfs-devel - Development headers for libzfs
zfs-dkms - DKMS kernel module support (builds on user system during install)

Ubuntu DEB Packages (Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04, 24.04)

openzfs-zfsutils - User-space utilities
openzfs-libzfs7 - libzfs shared library
openzfs-libzfs-dev - Development headers
openzfs-zfs-dkms - DKMS kernel module support (builds on user system during install)

Build Process

How It Works

Version Validation: Validates semantic versioning format
Podman Image Building: Builds container images with required build tools and dependencies
Source Download: Downloads OpenZFS source tarball from GitHub releases
Source Extraction: Extracts tarball and prepares build environment
Spec/Control Customization: Modifies RPM spec file or DEB changelog with 45Drives attribution
Package Building: Runs rpmbuild (RPM) or dpkg-buildpackage (DEB) inside container
Output Collection: Copies built packages to output directory

Changelog Format

The custom changelog entry for all built packages is:

RPM (%changelog section):

* Day Mon DD YYYY 45Drives <support@45drives.com> - 2.4.1-45drives1
- Built by 45Drives - no source code modifications

DEB (debian/changelog):

openzfs-zfs (2.4.1-45drives1) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium

  * Built by 45Drives - no source code modifications

 -- 45Drives <support@45drives.com>  Day, DD Mon YYYY HH:MM:SS +TIMEZONE

Advanced Usage

Rebuild Podman Images (Skip Cache)

To rebuild Podman images from scratch (useful if base image updates are needed):

# Rebuild a specific distribution
./build.sh rocky9 2.4.1 --no-cache
./build.sh ubuntu22 2.4.1 --no-cache

# Rebuild all distributions
./build.sh all 2.4.1 --no-cache

Build Multiple Versions

./build.sh all 2.4.1
./build.sh all 2.4.0
./build.sh all 2.3.0

Or build specific distributions for multiple versions:

./build.sh rocky9 2.4.1
./build.sh rocky9 2.4.0
./build.sh ubuntu22 2.4.1
./build.sh ubuntu22 2.4.0

All outputs are organized by distribution in the output/ directories.

Inspect Built Packages

# List all built packages by distribution
ls -lh output/rocky8/
ls -lh output/rocky9/
ls -lh output/rocky10/
ls -lh output/ubuntu20/
ls -lh output/ubuntu22/
ls -lh output/ubuntu24/

# Query RPM package info (all Rocky variants)
rpm -qip output/rocky8/zfs-utils-*.rpm
rpm -qip output/rocky9/zfs-utils-*.rpm
rpm -qip output/rocky10/zfs-utils-*.rpm

# Query DEB package info (all Ubuntu variants)
dpkg-deb -I output/ubuntu20/openzfs-zfsutils_*.deb
dpkg-deb -I output/ubuntu22/openzfs-zfsutils_*.deb
dpkg-deb -I output/ubuntu24/openzfs-zfsutils_*.deb

# Extract and view changelog from RPM
rpm -q --changelog output/rocky9/zfs-utils-*.rpm | head -20

# Extract and view changelog from DEB
dpkg-deb --raw-extract output/ubuntu22/openzfs-zfsutils_*.deb /tmp/deb-extract
cat /tmp/deb-extract/usr/share/doc/openzfs-zfsutils/changelog.gz | gunzip

Troubleshooting

"Podman is not installed"

Install Podman for your distribution:

RHEL/CentOS/Fedora:

sudo dnf install podman

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get install podman

Verify installation:

podman --version
podman info

Build Fails with "Failed to download tarball"

Verify:

Network connectivity: curl https://github.com
Version exists on GitHub: https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/releases
Version format is correct (e.g., 2.4.1, not v2.4.1)

"Permission denied" errors when running build

Ensure build.sh is executable:

chmod +x build.sh
chmod +x scripts/*.sh

Build container runs out of disk space

The build process requires substantial temporary space. Check available disk:

df -h /tmp
df -h /var/lib/containers  # Podman container storage

Increase available space or use a different disk location for Podman storage.

Podman image build fails

Check Podman daemon status:

podman system info

Clean up unused images:

podman image prune -a

Rebuild images without cache:

./build.sh both 2.4.1 --no-cache

Build succeeds but no packages in output directory

Verify Podman volume mounts are working:

podman run --rm -v $(pwd)/output/el9:/test alpine touch /test/test.txt
ls -la output/el9/test.txt

If volume mount fails, check SELinux context (on RHEL-based systems):

ls -laZ output/

Project Structure

zfs-builder/
├── build.sh                 # Main orchestrator script
├── Makefile                 # Convenience make targets
├── README.md               # This file
├── .gitignore              # Git ignore patterns
├── .podmanignore           # Podman build ignore patterns
├── podman/
│   ├── Containerfile.rocky8        # Rocky Linux 8 build container
│   ├── Containerfile.rocky9        # Rocky Linux 9 build container
│   ├── Containerfile.rocky10       # Rocky Linux 10 build container
│   ├── Containerfile.ubuntu20      # Ubuntu 20.04 build container
│   ├── Containerfile.ubuntu22      # Ubuntu 22.04 build container
│   └── Containerfile.ubuntu24      # Ubuntu 24.04 build container
├── scripts/
│   ├── build-rpm.sh               # RPM build script
│   ├── build-deb.sh               # DEB build script
│   └── generate-changelog.sh      # Changelog generation utility
└── output/
    ├── rocky8/                    # Rocky Linux 8 RPM output
    ├── rocky9/                    # Rocky Linux 9 RPM output
    ├── rocky10/                   # Rocky Linux 10 RPM output
    ├── ubuntu20/                  # Ubuntu 20.04 DEB output
    ├── ubuntu22/                  # Ubuntu 22.04 DEB output
    └── ubuntu24/                  # Ubuntu 24.04 DEB output

How the Build Works

Build Process Overview

For each distribution, the build process follows the official OpenZFS build methodology:

Distribution Validation: Validates distribution name against supported list
Version Validation: Validates semantic versioning format
Podman Image Building: Builds distribution-specific container image with dependencies per OpenZFS official documentation
Source Download: Downloads OpenZFS source tarball from GitHub releases
Source Extraction: Extracts tarball and prepares build environment
Configure: Runs ./configure with OpenZFS standard options
Package Building: Uses standard OpenZFS build methods:
- make rpm for Rocky Linux RPM packages
- make native-deb or make deb for Ubuntu DEB packages
- Falls back to rpmbuild/dpkg-buildpackage if standard methods unavailable
Changelog Customization: Injects 45Drives attribution in changelog
Output Collection: Copies built packages to distribution-specific output directory

Dependencies

All Containerfiles include complete dependencies as documented in the OpenZFS Building Guide:

Rocky 8/9/10 (per OpenZFS docs):

libtirpc-devel - TI-RPC library development files
zlib-devel - Compression library
libaio-devel - Asynchronous I/O library
libcurl-devel - URL transfer library
Plus additional packages: gcc, make, autoconf, automake, kernel-devel, python3, dkms, etc.

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 (per OpenZFS docs):

libaio-dev - Asynchronous I/O library
libcurl4-openssl-dev - URL transfer library
libpam0g-dev - PAM library
libtirpc-dev - TI-RPC library
Plus additional packages: debhelper, dh-dkms, dh-autoreconf, python3, git, etc.

Multi-Distribution Build

When using ./build.sh all <version>, all distributions are built sequentially:

./build.sh all 2.4.1
    ├─ Rocky 8 build (RPM)
    ├─ Rocky 9 build (RPM)
    ├─ Rocky 10 build (RPM)
    ├─ Ubuntu 20 build (DEB)
    ├─ Ubuntu 22 build (DEB)
    └─ Ubuntu 24 build (DEB)

Single Distribution Build Example (Rocky 9)

build.sh rocky9 2.4.1
    ↓
Build Podman image (Containerfile.rocky9)
    ↓ (includes all deps per OpenZFS official docs)
podman run zfs-builder-rocky9:latest
    ↓
build-rpm.sh 2.4.1
    ├─ Download tarball from GitHub
    ├─ Extract tarball
    ├─ Run ./configure with standard options
    ├─ Execute: make rpm (or rpmbuild as fallback)
    └─ Copy RPMs to output/rocky9/

Single Distribution Build Example (Ubuntu 22)

build.sh ubuntu22 2.4.1
    ↓
Build Podman image (Containerfile.ubuntu22)
    ↓ (includes all deps per OpenZFS official docs)
podman run zfs-builder-ubuntu22:latest
    ↓
build-deb.sh 2.4.1
    ├─ Download tarball from GitHub
    ├─ Extract tarball
    ├─ Run ./configure with standard options
    ├─ Execute: make native-deb or make deb (or dpkg-buildpackage as fallback)
    └─ Copy DEBs to output/ubuntu22/

Contributing & Development

Modify Build Scripts

Edit scripts in scripts/ to customize the build process:

build-rpm.sh - RPM build logic (used by all Rocky distributions)
build-deb.sh - DEB build logic (used by all Ubuntu distributions)
generate-changelog.sh - Changelog generation

Modify Container Images

Edit Containerfiles to add/remove dependencies:

podman/Containerfile.rocky8 - Rocky Linux 8 container
podman/Containerfile.rocky9 - Rocky Linux 9 container
podman/Containerfile.rocky10 - Rocky Linux 10 container
podman/Containerfile.ubuntu20 - Ubuntu 20.04 container
podman/Containerfile.ubuntu22 - Ubuntu 22.04 container
podman/Containerfile.ubuntu24 - Ubuntu 24.04 container

Test Changes

# Test with a specific distribution
./build.sh rocky9 2.4.1

# Verify output
ls -la output/rocky9/

# Test all distributions
./build.sh all 2.4.1

# Inspect packages
rpm -q --changelog output/rocky9/zfs-utils-*.rpm

License

This build tooling is maintained by 45Drives. See LICENSE file for details.

OpenZFS Documentation Compliance

This builder follows best practices from the official OpenZFS Developer Resources:

Building Dependencies: All Containerfiles install the complete dependency list as documented in Building ZFS
Build Methods: Uses standard OpenZFS package building methods (make rpm, make deb, make native-deb)
Distribution-Specific Optimizations: Respects distribution-specific best practices (e.g., no path overrides for native Debian packages)
DKMS Integration: Includes DKMS support for dynamic kernel module compilation as recommended

For more information about building OpenZFS, see:

Support

For issues or questions:

Check the Troubleshooting section above
Review Podman documentation: https://docs.podman.io/
Check OpenZFS releases: https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/releases
Review OpenZFS documentation: https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/ds (make rpm, make deb, make native-deb)
Distribution-Specific Optimizations: Respects distribution-specific best practices (e.g., no path overrides for native Debian packages)
DKMS Integration: Includes DKMS support for dynamic kernel module compilation as recommended

For more information about building OpenZFS, see:

Support

For issues or questions:

Check the Troubleshooting section above
Review Podman documentation: https://docs.podman.io/
Check OpenZFS releases: https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/releases
Review OpenZFS documentation: https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
podman		podman
scripts		scripts
.gitignore		.gitignore
.podmanignore		.podmanignore
Makefile		Makefile
README.md		README.md
build.sh		build.sh

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OpenZFS RPM & DEB Builder

Features

Prerequisites

Quick Start

Using the Shell Script

Using Make

Usage Details

Supported Distributions

Version Format

Output Locations

Built Packages

Rocky Linux RPM Packages (Rocky 8, 9, 10)

Ubuntu DEB Packages (Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04, 24.04)

Build Process

How It Works

Changelog Format

Advanced Usage

Rebuild Podman Images (Skip Cache)

Build Multiple Versions

Inspect Built Packages

Troubleshooting

"Podman is not installed"

Build Fails with "Failed to download tarball"

"Permission denied" errors when running build

Build container runs out of disk space

Podman image build fails

Build succeeds but no packages in output directory

Project Structure

How the Build Works

Build Process Overview

Dependencies

Multi-Distribution Build

Single Distribution Build Example (Rocky 9)

Single Distribution Build Example (Ubuntu 22)

Contributing & Development

Modify Build Scripts

Modify Container Images

Test Changes

License

OpenZFS Documentation Compliance

Support

Support

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