On 2018-07-05 at 17:29, Nicholas Geovanis wrote: > But what I'm trying to point out here is that there seems to be no > such canonical (sic) Debian tool which CAN tell me what release and > version I'm running. That's not true. /etc/debian_version, if not modified by the sysadmin, should always tell you this. However, it will not always tell you a number - because not every Debian which you might be running *has* a version number. According to (my understanding of what's been stated in) this thread, testing has not been assigned a version number yet; by the time it gets one, it is not testing anymore, it is stable. Also, sid will - almost by definition - never have a version number. What would the tool you're asking for provide in such cases, and where is it supposed to get that information? The answers which Debian appears to have arrived at are "the codename" and "/etc/debian_version". That means that, in such cases, the tool will not provide a number. If you aren't willing to accept that result, you'll have to come up with your own answer to those two questions. -- The Wanderer The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
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