Orion Poplawski wrote: If the functionality of the -mpi subpackage is not going to be provided at all (temporarily or otherwise), then neither. Use an rpm macro to include/exclude the package: %define with_mpi 0 Then wrap all areas of the spec file that concern the generation of mpi functionality, installation, packaging, file manifest, etc. with "%if %{with_mpi}" or "%if ! %{with_mpi}" checks as appropriate. Having package contain Provides/Obsoletes for a previous subpackage which provides some actual functionality, but which is not present due to being disabled, means that software which requires the functionality is lied to, and dependency resolution is tricked into working, but there are runtime software failures or similar. Not the correct way to go.

Orion Poplawski wrote: It's only a lie if a false Provides is added, imo. Yes, a problem, which is why I recommended using Obsoletes, but not Provides. Without out, users with it currently installed may/will soon end up with dependency problems. -- Rex