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#1 2012-03-06 19:26:48

drewp
Member
Registered: 2012-03-06
Posts: 1

Output of 'lsb_release -a' has changed

(First post by relative newbie to Arch - I hope this is in the correct section)

I did a full update of my Arch Linux box yesterday and did not realise until some of my scripts failed that the output of lsb_release -a had changed.

Current output is:
LSB Version:    n/a
Distributor ID:    archlinux
Description:    Arch Linux
Release:    rolling
Codename:    n/a

Prior to the upgrade the Distributor ID: line was:
Distributor ID:    Arch

I use this line to work out what distribution my script is running on, which tells me where to look for certain files.

I can't easily use the Description line as that will be unstable for other distributions, for example Fedora:
Description:    Fedora release 16 (Verne)

(Yes I could use regexes but what happens if someone invents Lo-Starch Linux?)

This raises a few questions for which responses to any or all would be most gratefully received...

1  Can I assume this change is definitive and I will not need to check and modify my scripts after the next (kernel?) update?

2  Is there any way of determining what the output of this command would be before performing the update (release notes perhaps?).  One of my scripts runs every two minutes so I would like to be able to modify its decode before updating.

3  Is there another (better?) way of determining that I am running Arch?

Thanks in advance

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