Creating a virtual RPM package with no files and only other dependencies
<p>I'm building FFMPEG into an RPM and I have many subpackages defined. Each subpackage is a shared library that FFMPEG provides, or that shared library's development files, ie <code>libavcodec-devel</code>.</p>

<p>I'd like to provide a package called <code>ffmpeg-devel</code> which simply depends on all of the other <code>devel</code> packages. I'm currently doing the following:</p>

<pre><code>%package -n ffmpeg-devel
Summary: ffmpeg-devel
Requires: libavcodec-devel
Requires: libavdevice-devel
Requires: libavfilter-devel
Requires: libavformat-devel
Requires: libavresample-devel
Requires: libavutil-devel
Requires: libpostproc-devel
Requires: libswresample-devel
Requires: libswscale-devel
%description -n ffmpeg-devel
ffmpeg-devel
%files -n ffmpeg-devel
%exclude /*
</code></pre>

<p>Now, normally, <code>rpmbuild</code> will see any unpackaged files in the BUILDROOT for the package and fail the build if anything isn't included or specifically excluded. This is a good thing in my opinion, as it prevents packagers from missing things.</p>

<p>The problem above in my <code>ffmpeg-devel</code> virtual package is that it excludes everything, making it impossible for me to see if something wasn't included.</p>

<p>Is there a better way to make empty packages which only include dependencies on other packages?</p>