<term><varname>ID=</varname></term>
<listitem><para>A lower-case string
- identifying the operating system,
- excluding any version information and
- suitable for processing by scripts. If
- not set defaults to
+ (no spaces) identifying the operating
+ system, excluding any version
+ information and suitable for
+ processing by scripts or usage in
+ generated file names. If not set
+ defaults to
<literal>linux</literal>. Example:
<literal>ID=fedora</literal>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term><varname>VERSION_ID=</varname></term>
<listitem><para>A lower-case string
- (mostly numeric) identifying the
+ (mostly numeric, no spaces) identifying the
operating system version, excluding
any name information and suitable for
- processing by scripts. Example:
+ processing by scripts or usage in generated file names. Example:
<literal>VERSION_ID=15</literal>.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
- <para>If you interpreting this file from code or a
- shell script, use the ID and VERSION_ID fields. When
- looking for an OS identification string for
- presentation to the user use the PRETTY_STRING
- field.</para>
+ <para>If you are reading this file from code or a
+ shell script to determine the OS or a specific version
+ of it, use the ID and VERSION_ID fields. When looking
+ for an OS identification string for presentation to
+ the user use the PRETTY_NAME field.</para>
<para>Note that operating system vendors may choose
not to provide version information, for example to
<title>Example</title>
<programlisting>NAME=Fedora
-VERSION=15 (Rawhide)
+VERSION="15 (Rawhide)"
ID=fedora
VERSION_ID=15
-PRETTY_NAME=Fedora 15 (Rawhide)
+PRETTY_NAME="Fedora 15 (Rawhide)"
ANSI_COLOR=0;34</programlisting>
</refsect1>
<title>See Also</title>
<para>
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
- <citerefentry><refentrytitle>lsb_release</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>lsb_release</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-id</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-info</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
</para>
</refsect1>