uname output ?

[pll at lanminds.com]

In a message dated: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 14:54:16 EDT
"Derek D. Martin" said:

>While I very much agree with you, I'm a bit surprised to hear you
>argue this.  The GNU Project seems to be giving you what you've always
>wanted: a way for uname to identify what distribution you're using,
>distinct from the version of the kernel.

Ahm, yeah, but the distribution is Debian/Sid in my case, not GNU/Linux.
Provided I can get something which is easily discernible and makes 
sense consistently, I'd be happy.  What I don't want is uname on ever 
Linux distro reporting something useless:

	Debian	=>	GNU/Linux
	RH=>		Rawhide
	Mandrake=>	random_string

etc.

I should be able to expect:

	Debian	=>	Debian
	RH=>		Red Hat
	Mandrake=>	Mandrake


at the very least.  At the best, maybe something which denoted the 
release number like '3.0' or '7.2' etc.  But I'm not holding my 
breath.	

>In a way, this is a good thing.  However it will annoy me to no end if
>the different distributions do not customize this field to reflect the
>distribution in use.

Or, if the customize for each release such that a generic shell 
script fails to be able to recognize future releases.  Imagine if 
'uname -o' on different Red Hat systems reported:

	fisher
	limbo
	lorax
	mustang
	pensacola
	piglet
	pinstripe
	rembrandt
	starbuck
	thunderbird
	wolverine

at different times?  And I fear that this is what will happen. RH 
will place the release name or number in that field, and not mention 
RedHat.  Debian is going with GNU/Linux (for now), but what if they 
decided to go the same route, such that different systems could 
report:

	slink
	potato
	woody
	sarge
	sid

Could happen, and I'd find that quite annoying.

>For those with RH 7.3, what version of the sh-utils does it ship with?
>Just curious...

Debian/Sid has 2.0.12 in it today :)
-- 

Seeya,
Paul
--
	It may look like I'm just sitting here doing nothing,
   but I'm really actively waiting for all my problems to go away.

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