Re: Debian testing - release number
On 2018-07-06, The Wanderer <wanderer@fastmail.fm> wrote:
>
> 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.
>
/usr/share/doc/base-files/FAQ
Q. I upgraded my system to the testing distribution and now my
/etc/issue says "buster/sid". Should it not read "buster" or "testing"?
Q. I upgraded my system to the unstable distribution and now my
/etc/issue says "buster/sid". Should it not read "sid" or "unstable"?
A. That would be nice, but it is not possible because of the way the
testing distribution works. Packages uploaded for unstable reach
testing after ten days, provided they are built for every released
architecture, have no RC-bugs and their dependencies may be met in
testing. You should consider the testing and unstable distributions as
two sides of the same coin. Since the base-files package in testing
was initially uploaded for unstable, the only sensible /etc/issue to
have is one that is both valid for testing and unstable, hence
"buster/sid" (or whatever is appropriate).
Q. Ok, but how do I know which distribution I'm running?
A. If you are running testing or unstable, then /etc/debian_version is
not a reliable way to know that anymore. Looking at the contents of
your /etc/apt/sources.list file is probably a much better way.
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