Re: Is there a way to positively, uniquely identify which Debian release a program is running on?

[Steve Greenland <steveg@moregruel.net>]

On 08-Jun-07, 03:35 (CDT), Petter Reinholdtsen <pere@hungry.com> wrote: 
> When that is said, I believe it is a good idea to split the Debian
> version into its own package like RedHat do it, to make sure the
> version can be updated without updating all the other files in
> base-files.  This would make it possible to fix the version in testing
> without having to fix the version of all the other files in the
> base-files package in /etc/.

Still pointless, because there is basically no reliable connection
between the contents of /etc/debian_version and what packages are
installed.

Yes, in some controlled environments, it may be useful. If you have one
of those environments, then you *know* what the possible values are and
what they mean. 

But in general, it's not reliable. The good news is that it's not
necessary, either. Just Depend: on the package versions you need, and
stop worrying about it.

Steve

PS How come my unstable system says "lenny/sid" and my etch systems say
"4.0"? Is someone deliberately trying to make it impossible to parse?
Perhaps as a not-so-subtle way of saying "don't use this from code"?

-- 
Steve Greenland
    The irony is that Bill Gates claims to be making a stable operating
    system and Linus Torvalds claims to be trying to take over the
    world.       -- seen on the net