diff --git a/dictd.changes b/dictd.changes
index 248255f..ff9d4a5 100644
--- a/dictd.changes
+++ b/dictd.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Mon Feb  4 18:59:56 UTC 2019 - Jan Engelhardt <jengelh@inai.de>
+
+- Trim filler wording from description.
+- Retire old $RPM_* shell vars.
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Sat Jan 26 18:09:17 UTC 2019 - opensuse-packaging@opensuse.org
 
diff --git a/dictd.spec b/dictd.spec
index ec1c416..deb1a74 100644
--- a/dictd.spec
+++ b/dictd.spec
@@ -45,10 +45,10 @@ BuildRequires: systemd-rpm-macros
 %endif
 
 %description
-This package contains two programs. With dict, you have access to
-powerful electronic dictionaries on the Internet. With dictd, you can
-set up your own dictionary. To look up, for example, the word 'grunt',
-just type "dict grunt" at a command line. See the man pages of dict and
+This package contains two programs. dict gives access to
+electronic dictionaries on the Internet. With dictd, one can
+set up a custom dictionary. To look up, for example, the word "grunt",
+execute `dict grunt` at a command line. See the man pages of dict and
 dictd for details.
 
 %prep
@@ -63,17 +63,16 @@ Group:          Development/Languages/C and C++
 Requires:       %{name} = %{version}
 
 %description devel
-This package contains two programs. With dict, you have access to
-powerful electronic dictionaries on the Internet. With dictd, you can
-set up your own dictionary. To look up, for example, the word 'grunt',
-just type "dict grunt" at a command line. See the man pages of dict and
+This package contains two programs. dict gives access to
+electronic dictionaries on the Internet. With dictd, one can
+set up a custom dictionary. To look up, for example, the word "grunt",
+execute `dict grunt` at a command line. See the man pages of dict and
 dictd for details.
 
 This package contains development files for the dictd package.
 
-
 %build
-export LDFLAGS="%{?__global_ldflags}" CPPFLAGS="$RPM_OPT_FLAGS -fPIC"
+export LDFLAGS="%{?__global_ldflags}" CPPFLAGS="%{optflags} -fPIC"
 %configure --enable-dictorg --with-plugin-dbi
 # --disable-plugin
 make %{?_smp_mflags}
@@ -82,7 +81,7 @@ make %{?_smp_mflags}
 %install
 %make_install
 install -D -m 0644 %{SOURCE1} %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/colorit.conf
-cat <<EOF > $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/%{_sysconfdir}/dictd.conf
+cat <<EOF >%{buildroot}/%{_sysconfdir}/dictd.conf
 global {
     #syslog
     #syslog_facility daemon