Let's see Now we have with TmpFilesCheck.py line 50ff with open(pkgfile.path) as inputf: for line in inputf: # skip comments line = line.split('#')[0].split('\n')[0] line = line.lstrip() if not len(line): continue line = re.split(r'\s+', line) # format is # Type Path Mode UID GID Age Argument # we only need type and path if len(line) < 3: continue t = line[0] p = line[1] if t.endswith('!'): t = t[:-1] if t not in interesting_types: continue tmp_files.add(p) if p not in pkg.files(): printWarning(pkg, "tmpfile-not-in-filelist", p) continue if not pkg.files()[p].is_ghost: printWarning(pkg, "tmpfile-not-ghost", p) taht is it tries to open the file and then check if it is a %ghost file ... but per definition a %ghost files does not exist at this point, hence this is a bug of RPMlint