diff --git a/internal/provider/rpm/rpm_meta_test.go b/internal/provider/rpm/rpm_meta_test.go
index 19d1a69..1aa3c2f 100644
--- a/internal/provider/rpm/rpm_meta_test.go
+++ b/internal/provider/rpm/rpm_meta_test.go
@@ -7,16 +7,14 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
-	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"git.unkin.net/unkin/artifactapi/internal/provider"
+	"git.unkin.net/unkin/artifactapi/internal/testsupport"
 	"git.unkin.net/unkin/artifactapi/pkg/models"
 )
 
-const fixtureRPM = "testdata/e2e-testpkg-1.0-1.noarch.rpm"
-
 type fakeBlobReader struct{ data []byte }
 
 func (f fakeBlobReader) Download(_ context.Context, _ string) (io.ReadCloser, int64, error) {
@@ -82,10 +80,7 @@ func TestRPMValidateUpload(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestRPMAfterUpload(t *testing.T) {
-	data, err := os.ReadFile(fixtureRPM)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("fixture: %v", err)
-	}
+	data := testsupport.MinimalRPM("e2e-testpkg", "1.0", "1", "noarch")
 	store := &fakeMetaStore{}
 	(&Provider{}).AfterUpload(context.Background(), "myrepo", "Packages/e2e-testpkg-1.0-1.noarch.rpm",
 		"sha256:deadbeef", fakeBlobReader{data: data}, store)
diff --git a/internal/server/server_test.go b/internal/server/server_test.go
index 3b04165..62b7bcf 100644
--- a/internal/server/server_test.go
+++ b/internal/server/server_test.go
@@ -301,10 +301,7 @@ func TestServerLocalPyPI(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestServerLocalRPMRepodata(t *testing.T) {
 	requireStack(t)
-	rpm, err := os.ReadFile("../provider/rpm/testdata/e2e-testpkg-1.0-1.noarch.rpm")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Skipf("rpm fixture unavailable: %v", err)
-	}
+	rpm := testsupport.MinimalRPM("e2e-testpkg", "1.0", "1", "noarch")
 	if resp, b := req(t, "POST", "/api/v2/remotes", `{"name":"srv-rpm","package_type":"rpm","repo_type":"local"}`); resp.StatusCode != 201 {
 		t.Fatalf("create rpm local: %d %s", resp.StatusCode, b)
 	}
diff --git a/internal/testsupport/rpm.go b/internal/testsupport/rpm.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49f37bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/testsupport/rpm.go
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+package testsupport
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/binary"
+)
+
+// MinimalRPM builds a valid-enough RPM package in pure Go (no committed binary
+// fixture, no external rpmbuild). It carries just the header tags the provider
+// reads: name/version/release/arch plus a single self Provides entry, which is
+// enough for cavaliergopher/rpm to parse and for repodata generation.
+func MinimalRPM(name, version, release, arch string) []byte {
+	type tag struct {
+		id, typ, count uint32
+		data           []byte
+	}
+	cstr := func(s string) []byte { return append([]byte(s), 0) }
+	tags := []tag{
+		{1000, 6, 1, cstr(name)},         // RPMTAG_NAME (STRING)
+		{1001, 6, 1, cstr(version)},      // RPMTAG_VERSION
+		{1002, 6, 1, cstr(release)},      // RPMTAG_RELEASE
+		{1022, 6, 1, cstr(arch)},         // RPMTAG_ARCH
+		{1047, 8, 1, cstr(name)},         // RPMTAG_PROVIDENAME (STRING_ARRAY)
+		{1112, 4, 1, []byte{0, 0, 0, 0}}, // RPMTAG_PROVIDEFLAGS (INT32)
+		{1113, 8, 1, cstr(version)},      // RPMTAG_PROVIDEVERSION (STRING_ARRAY)
+	}
+
+	buildHeader := func(entries []tag) []byte {
+		var index, store bytes.Buffer
+		for _, e := range entries {
+			off := uint32(store.Len())
+			for _, v := range []uint32{e.id, e.typ, off, e.count} {
+				binary.Write(&index, binary.BigEndian, v)
+			}
+			store.Write(e.data)
+		}
+		var b bytes.Buffer
+		b.Write([]byte{0x8e, 0xad, 0xe8, 0x01, 0, 0, 0, 0}) // header magic + reserved
+		binary.Write(&b, binary.BigEndian, uint32(len(entries)))
+		binary.Write(&b, binary.BigEndian, uint32(store.Len()))
+		b.Write(index.Bytes())
+		b.Write(store.Bytes())
+		return b.Bytes()
+	}
+
+	lead := make([]byte, 96)
+	copy(lead[0:4], []byte{0xed, 0xab, 0xee, 0xdb}) // lead magic
+	lead[4] = 3                                     // major version
+	binary.BigEndian.PutUint16(lead[8:10], 1)       // archnum
+	copy(lead[10:76], name)                         // name (66 bytes, null-padded)
+	binary.BigEndian.PutUint16(lead[76:78], 1)      // osnum
+	binary.BigEndian.PutUint16(lead[78:80], 5)      // signature type
+
+	var out bytes.Buffer
+	out.Write(lead)
+	out.Write(buildHeader(nil)) // empty signature header (16 bytes, 8-aligned)
+	out.Write(buildHeader(tags))
+	return out.Bytes()
+}