Valid RPM Macros
Here are the definitions for some common specfile macros as they are defined on Fedora Core 11 (rpm-4.7.0-1.fc11). For definitions of more macros, examine the output of "rpm --showrc". To see the expanded definition of a macro use the command "rpm --eval '%{macro}'". Note that neither command will take into account macros defined inside specfiles, but both will take into account macros defined in your ~/.rpmmacros file and macros defined on the command line.
Keep in mind that some of these macros may evaluate differently on older Fedora or EPEL releases.
Macros mimicking autoconf variables
%{_sysconfdir} /etc
%{_prefix} /usr
%{_exec_prefix} %{_prefix}
%{_bindir} %{_exec_prefix}/bin
%{_lib} lib (lib64 on 64bit systems)
%{_libdir} %{_exec_prefix}/%{_lib}
%{_libexecdir} %{_exec_prefix}/libexec
%{_sbindir} %{_exec_prefix}/sbin
%{_sharedstatedir} /var/lib
%{_datadir} %{_prefix}/share
%{_includedir} %{_prefix}/include
%{_oldincludedir} /usr/include
%{_infodir} /usr/share/info
%{_mandir} /usr/share/man
%{_localstatedir} /var
%{_initddir} %{_sysconfdir}/rc.d/init.d
Note: On releases older than Fedora 10 (and EPEL), %{_initddir} does not exist. Instead, you should use the deprecated %{_initrddir} macro.
RPM directory macros
%{_topdir} %{getenv:HOME}/rpmbuild
%{_builddir} %{_topdir}/BUILD
%{_rpmdir} %{_topdir}/RPMS
%{_sourcedir} %{_topdir}/SOURCES
%{_specdir} %{_topdir}/SPECS
%{_srcrpmdir} %{_topdir}/SRPMS
%{_buildrootdir} %{_topdir}/BUILDROOT
Note: On releases older than Fedora 10 (and EPEL), %{_buildrootdir} does not exist.
Build flags macros
%{_global_cflags} -O2 -g -pipe
%{_optflags} %{__global_cflags} -m32 -march=i386 -mtune=pentium4 # if redhat-rpm-config is installed
Other macros
%{_var} /var
%{_tmppath} %{_var}/tmp
%{_usr} /usr
%{_usrsrc} %{_usr}/src
%{_docdir} %{_datadir}/doc
Reference
Here are macros from other distributions to aid you in package conversion: