Re: debian version ID

[Ben Finney <ben+debian@benfinney.id.au>]

Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> writes:

> Will someone please explain (or point to, since it's not in release
> notes), why:
>
> 1: /etc/os-release (in Jessie at least) does not include the point
> release version as represented by /etc/debian_version

The proximate explanation is: Because the API for that file is
different. It describes the stable release for its whole lifetime, not
the updates made since that version of Debian was released.

A related question might be: Where is the canonical location of the
version string that *includes* the update (e.g. “8.5”)? I don't know
whether such a thing exists.

> 2: 8.5 (as installed here on host gx62b) is not using the (LTS) 4.4
> kernel

I expect the reason is: Because at the time Jessie was frozen, Linux 4.4
was not released. An update to Jessie is made only to fix bugs, not to
gain new releases of packages.

So the question instead is: Why would the general policy of “don't
upgrade a package to a new version” for Debian stable releases, have an
exception for this package?

-- 
 \            “Choose mnemonic identifiers. If you can't remember what |
  `\                mnemonic means, you've got a problem.” —Larry Wall |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney