Checkinstall questions

[edj]

Got checkinstall, tried it with gcombust and, after a few stumbles on my 
part, worked like a charm.  I have 2 questions, though.

1.  Checkinstall by default not only creates the rpm, it installs it.  the 
rc file does "--force --nodeps --replacepackages."  I can change that, of 
course, but I can't find an option that would not install at all, but 
simply make the rpm file.  There will be programs for which I don't have 
the necessary libs, or whatever.  Running "rpm -ivh" would tell me that.  
Am I missing something very obvious here?

2.  What does checkinstall do that installing an i386 rpm wouldn't?  So I 
tell it that my architecture is "i686" - what does that do, exactly?  Some 
program may demand a lib ">=" to some number; I have a lower one.  How 
will I run that program after checkinstall does its "--force --nodeps -- 
replacepackages" bit?  In short, how does checkinstall "conform" the 
program to my system?

Thanks.
-- 
Ed Jabbour

"Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My 
opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them."
--Flannery O'Connor