[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Debian testing - release number



On Thu, Jul 05, 2018 at 12:57:34PM -0500, David Wright wrote:
> On Thu 05 Jul 2018 at 12:42:36 (-0400), Greg Wooledge wrote:
> > On Thu, Jul 05, 2018 at 11:06:22AM -0500, David Wright wrote:
> > > But if you're a sysadmin who has a script that wants/needs a version
> > > *number* for any reason, then /etc/debian_version is the safest file
> > > to modify.
> > 
> > I strongly disagree.  The safest file to modify would be the broken
> > shell script that needs a "release number".
> 
> Would you explain what is unsafe about it and why /etc/debian_version
> is a configuration file, or offer a sensible alternative.

Your hypothetical case describes a shell script that is supposed to
detect what version of Debian it's running on, for whatever reason.

If this script doesn't know how to handle the string "testing/unstable"
then it's doing a really crappy job of "supporting" Debian systems.


Reply to: