man/os-release.xml

   1 <?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
   2 <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="http://docbook.sourceforge.net/release/xsl/current/xhtml/docbook.xsl"?>
   3 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
   4         "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
   5
   6 <!--
   7   This file is part of systemd.
   8
   9   Copyright 2010 Lennart Poettering
  10
  11   systemd is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
  12   under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
  13   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
  14   (at your option) any later version.
  15
  16   systemd is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
  17   WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  18   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
  19   General Public License for more details.
  20
  21   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  22   along with systemd; If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
  23 -->
  24
  25 <refentry id="os-release">
  26         <refentryinfo>
  27                 <title>os-release</title>
  28                 <productname>systemd</productname>
  29
  30                 <authorgroup>
  31                         <author>
  32                                 <contrib>Developer</contrib>
  33                                 <firstname>Lennart</firstname>
  34                                 <surname>Poettering</surname>
  35                                 <email>lennart@poettering.net</email>
  36                         </author>
  37                 </authorgroup>
  38         </refentryinfo>
  39
  40         <refmeta>
  41                 <refentrytitle>os-release</refentrytitle>
  42                 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
  43         </refmeta>
  44
  45         <refnamediv>
  46                 <refname>os-release</refname>
  47                 <refpurpose>Operating system identification</refpurpose>
  48         </refnamediv>
  49
  50         <refsynopsisdiv>
  51                 <para><filename>/etc/os-release</filename></para>
  52         </refsynopsisdiv>
  53
  54         <refsect1>
  55                 <title>Description</title>
  56
  57                 <para>The <filename>/etc/os-release</filename> file
  58                 contains operating system identification data.</para>
  59
  60                 <para>The basic file format of
  61                 <filename>os-release</filename> is a
  62                 newline-separated list of environment-like
  63                 shell-compatible variable assignments. It is possible
  64                 to source the configuration from shell scripts,
  65                 however, beyond mere variable assignments no shell
  66                 features are supported, allowing applications to read
  67                 the file without implementing a shell compatible
  68                 execution engine.</para>
  69
  70                 <para><filename>/etc/os-release</filename> contains
  71                 data that is defined by the operating system vendor
  72                 and should not be changed by the administrator.</para>
  73
  74                 <para>Depending on the operating system other
  75                 configuration files might be checked for OS
  76                 identification as well, however only as
  77                 fallback.</para>
  78         </refsect1>
  79
  80         <refsect1>
  81                 <title>Options</title>
  82
  83                 <para>The following OS identifications parameters may be set using
  84                 <filename>/etc/os-release</filename>:</para>
  85
  86                 <variablelist>
  87
  88                         <varlistentry>
  89                                 <term><varname>NAME=</varname></term>
  90
  91                                 <listitem><para>A string identifying
  92                                 the operating system, without a
  93                                 version string, and not necessarily
  94                                 suitable for presentation to the
  95                                 user. If not set defaults to
  96                                 <literal>Linux</literal>. Example:
  97                                 <literal>NAME=Fedora</literal> or
  98                                 <literal>NAME="Debian
  99                                 GNU/Linux"</literal>.</para></listitem>
 100                         </varlistentry>
 101
 102                         <varlistentry>
 103                                 <term><varname>VERSION=</varname></term>
 104
 105                                 <listitem><para>A string identifying
 106                                 the operating system version,
 107                                 excluding any name information and
 108                                 suitable for presentation to the
 109                                 user. Example:
 110                                 <literal>VERSION=15</literal> or
 111                                 <literal>VERSION="15
 112                                 (Rawhide)"</literal>.</para></listitem>
 113                         </varlistentry>
 114
 115                         <varlistentry>
 116                                 <term><varname>ID=</varname></term>
 117
 118                                 <listitem><para>A lower-case string
 119                                 (no spaces) identifying the operating
 120                                 system, excluding any version
 121                                 information and suitable for
 122                                 processing by scripts or usage in
 123                                 generated file names. If not set
 124                                 defaults to
 125                                 <literal>linux</literal>. Example:
 126                                 <literal>ID=fedora</literal>.</para></listitem>
 127                         </varlistentry>
 128
 129                         <varlistentry>
 130                                 <term><varname>VERSION_ID=</varname></term>
 131
 132                                 <listitem><para>A lower-case string
 133                                 (mostly numeric, no spaces) identifying the
 134                                 operating system version, excluding
 135                                 any name information and suitable for
 136                                 processing by scripts or usage in generated file names. Example:
 137                                 <literal>VERSION_ID=15</literal>.</para></listitem>
 138                         </varlistentry>
 139
 140                         <varlistentry>
 141                                 <term><varname>PRETTY_NAME=</varname></term>
 142
 143                                 <listitem><para>A pretty operating
 144                                 system name in a format suitable for
 145                                 presentation to the user. May or may
 146                                 not contain an OS version of some
 147                                 kind, as suitable. If not set defaults
 148                                 to <literal>Linux</literal>. Example:
 149                                 <literal>PRETTY_NAME=Fedora 15
 150                                 (Rawhide)</literal>.</para></listitem>
 151                         </varlistentry>
 152
 153                         <varlistentry>
 154                                 <term><varname>ANSI_COLOR=</varname></term>
 155
 156                                 <listitem><para>A suggested
 157                                 presentation color when showing the
 158                                 distribution name on the console. This
 159                                 should be specified as string suitable
 160                                 for inclusion in the ESC [ m
 161                                 ANSI/ECMA-48 escape code for setting
 162                                 graphical rendition. Example:
 163                                 <literal>ANSI_COLOR=0;31</literal> for
 164                                 red, or
 165                                 <literal>ANSI_COLOR=1;34</literal> for
 166                                 light blue.</para></listitem>
 167                         </varlistentry>
 168                 </variablelist>
 169
 170                 <para>If you are reading this file from code or a
 171                 shell script to determine the OS or a specific version
 172                 of it, use the ID and VERSION_ID fields. When looking
 173                 for an OS identification string for presentation to
 174                 the user use the PRETTY_NAME field.</para>
 175
 176                 <para>Note that operating system vendors may choose
 177                 not to provide version information, for example to
 178                 accommodate for rolling releases. In this case VERSION
 179                 and VERSION_ID may be unset. Applications should not
 180                 rely on these fields to be set.</para>
 181         </refsect1>
 182
 183         <refsect1>
 184                 <title>Example</title>
 185
 186                 <programlisting>NAME=Fedora
 187 VERSION="15 (Rawhide)"
 188 ID=fedora
 189 VERSION_ID=15
 190 PRETTY_NAME="Fedora 15 (Rawhide)"
 191 ANSI_COLOR=0;34</programlisting>
 192         </refsect1>
 193
 194         <refsect1>
 195                   <title>See Also</title>
 196                   <para>
 197                           <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
 198                           <citerefentry><refentrytitle>lsb_release</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
 199                           <citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
 200                           <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-id</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
 201                           <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-info</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
 202                   </para>
 203         </refsect1>
 204
 205 </refentry>