archlinux release

ebal · 2012-12-03 16:58:14

There are two files to verify an archlinux installation:

etc/arch-release

&&

etc/os-release

arch-release is an empty file, i believe that this is according to other distros that have a /etc/distro-release file.

right ?

Is this the "official" way to verify an archlinux installation ?

Searching through arch-wiki-docs didnt find anything about os-release

drcouzelis · 2012-12-03 17:26:33

ebal wrote:

Is this the "official" way to verify an archlinux installation?

I think so.

Both "/etc/os-release" and "/etc/arch-release" are from the "filesystem" package.

The PKGBUILD file for the "filesystem" package creates an empty file named "/etc/arch-release". On Red Hat, I use the file "/etc/redhat-release" to know which version of Red Hat I'm using. Since Arch Linux doesn't have versions, it makes sense that it's empty.

I supposed you should be careful in regards to distributions that are based on Arch Linux. If the developers are sloppy then they might not rename that file, so there might be a "/etc/arch-release" file on an Arch Linux based distribution.

ebal · 2012-12-03 17:36:32

thanks drcouzelis,

i came up with those two files, from filesystem package (it was my first thought).
although i knew about arch-release already, i didnt know about os-release.

fschiff · 2012-12-03 21:45:00

os-release was a systemd suggestion

WorMzy · 2012-12-03 22:57:03

As a system administrator on hundreds of PCs+servers, I use 'cat /etc/*release' to check what OS the machine I'm currently ssh'd into uses.

systemd wants to make os-release the standard, but I don't think that'll ever be adopted by every distro, simply because it's a "systemd" proposal, and that causes knee-jerk reactions in some communities.

Last edited by WorMzy (2012-12-03 22:57:39)

brain0 · 2012-12-04 10:36:40

Even if people hate systemd, they have to agree that the standardizes /etc/os-release is a pretty good idea. The old /etc/arch-release is only present for backward-compatibility with broken third-party tools. I expect that to go away at some point. If you implement something that tests if you run Arch, look at /etc/os-release.

x33a · 2012-12-04 13:24:33

@ brain0

Yeah I hate systemd, and didn't even know about os-release, but indeed it makes sense, as you don't need to keep guessing the name of the file for different distros.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-12-03 16:58:14

archlinux release

#2 2012-12-03 17:26:33

Re: archlinux release

#3 2012-12-03 17:36:32

Re: archlinux release

#4 2012-12-03 21:45:00

Re: archlinux release

#5 2012-12-03 22:57:03

Re: archlinux release

#6 2012-12-04 10:36:40

Re: archlinux release

#7 2012-12-04 13:24:33

Re: archlinux release

Board footer