random source during system installation and stays
constant for all subsequent boots. Optionally, for
stateless systems it is generated during runtime at
- boot.</para>
+ boot if it is found to be empty.</para>
<para>The machine ID does not change based on user
configuration, or when hardware is replaced.</para>
with a globally unique ID in the network, that does
not change even if the local network configuration
changes. Due to this and its greater length it is
- a more useful replacement than the
+ a more useful replacement for the
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>gethostid</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
call POSIX specifies.</para>
</refsect1>
<para>
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>gethostid</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
- <citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-info</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>os-release</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
</para>
</refsect1>