This should go without saying, but you need to create a compile script for yourself before you can do anything with this. You need to copy the file name "_blank_build_script-copy_to_create_your_own.sh" to an appripriate name of your choosing. A good rule of thumb is to at least use the application name and version number. Assuming we are preparing to guild "myapp" version 1.0, we would:

[root@localhost:~]$ cd /ape/_compile # for easy access to files
[root@localhost:/ape/_compile]$ cp ./scripts/_blank_build_script-copy_to_create_your_own.sh ./scripts/myapp-1.0.sh
[root@localhost:/ape/_compile]$ vi ./scripts/myapp-1.0.sh # make our adjustments to the script so we can use it.
[root@localhost:/ape/_compile]$ ./scripts/myapp-1.0.sh -a # perform all steps from configure to RPM.
[root@localhost:/ape/_compile]$ # If compile failed, curse and go back to the `vi` command above.
[root@localhost:/ape/_compile]$ |

Once you have your script created and configured, the usage like the usage below, but with a different script name:

[root@localhost:/ape/_compile/scripts]$ ./scripts/myapp-1.0.sh -h
INFO:
  User script for the Ape Base Compile System. For information about the
  Ape Base Compile System, please visit http://apebase.sourceforge.net/.
  You may also find documentation on this local machine at
  http://apebase.sourceforge.net:80/apeDocs if the Ape Base Compile System
  is fully installed.
VERSION:
  1.02-ap20104400 SVN r73 2008-03-23 09:19:42Z BrynM
USAGE:
  myapp-1.0.sh [-a] [-c] [-h] [-i] [-j] [-k] [-m] [-o] [-r [-g]]  [-s] [-t]
OPTIONS:
  -a      Run `configure`, `make`, `make install` and RPM steps.
           Essentially shorthand for the combined flags -cmisr.
  -c      Run `configure` step.
  -i      Run `make install` step. This will also perform a removal like -k and
           activate -s.
  -j      Just run and exit performing only common actions. Primarily only used
           for debugging script failures..
  -h      Show usage and exit.
  -k      Remove previous build and exit.
  -m      Run `make` step.
  -o      Show `configure --help` output.
  -r [-g] Create RPM using EPM (requires the ESP EPM binaries). The -g flag will
           cause the resulting RPM to be deposited into the appropriate gold
           directory for the distribution (currently only RHEL based).
  -s      Copy skeleton config files.
  -t      Experimental. Tarball up installed version into a .tar.gz under the
           current directory.
NOTES:
  Execution order is -c, -m, (implied -k) -i, -s , -r , -t. The options -h, -j, -k
    and -o will ech stop execution directly after performing their task. Implied
    -k means that a removal is performed, but this is actually part of the -i step
    and not an actual usage of the -k process.
  Some commands produce logs within the "output" directory.
  RPMs end up in the "rpms" directory in subfolders organized by distro,
    release and architecture.
  Tarballs end up in the current working directory.
  Files copied from the skel directory always end up under the compiled
    --prefix.
  You can add additional EPM directives by providing a file to the
    APE_CONF_USER_EPM_STUB setting.
[root@localhost:/ape/_compile/scripts]$ |

Making a script to package an application is rather easy. Of course, compiling that application may be another story.

1. We need to build an application called MyApp, Version 1.0.
2. The sources for this applicaiton can be found in /ape/_compile/myapp-1.0
3. The only configure option we need for MyApp, Version 1.0 is "--enable-shared=yes" to build shared libraries.
4. We aren't doing anything fancy with Ape User Configuration Variables.

The above list is numbered because we will be dealing with some possible complications of these items at the end of this section after we've got the basics.