man/os-release.xml

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  10   Copyright 2010 Lennart Poettering
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  25
  26 <refentry id="os-release">
  27   <refentryinfo>
  28     <title>os-release</title>
  29     <productname>systemd</productname>
  30
  31     <authorgroup>
  32       <author>
  33         <contrib>Developer</contrib>
  34         <firstname>Lennart</firstname>
  35         <surname>Poettering</surname>
  36         <email>lennart@poettering.net</email>
  37       </author>
  38     </authorgroup>
  39   </refentryinfo>
  40
  41   <refmeta>
  42     <refentrytitle>os-release</refentrytitle>
  43     <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
  44   </refmeta>
  45
  46   <refnamediv>
  47     <refname>os-release</refname>
  48     <refpurpose>Operating system identification</refpurpose>
  49   </refnamediv>
  50
  51   <refsynopsisdiv>
  52     <para><filename>/etc/os-release</filename></para>
  53     <para><filename>/usr/lib/os-release</filename></para>
  54   </refsynopsisdiv>
  55
  56   <refsect1>
  57     <title>Description</title>
  58
  59     <para>The <filename>/etc/os-release</filename> and
  60     <filename>/usr/lib/os-release</filename> files contain operating
  61     system identification data.</para>
  62
  63     <para>The basic file format of <filename>os-release</filename> is
  64     a newline-separated list of environment-like shell-compatible
  65     variable assignments. It is possible to source the configuration
  66     from shell scripts, however, beyond mere variable assignments, no
  67     shell features are supported (this means variable expansion is
  68     explicitly not supported), allowing applications to read the file
  69     without implementing a shell compatible execution engine. Variable
  70     assignment values must be enclosed in double or single quotes if
  71     they include spaces, semicolons or other special characters
  72     outside of A–Z, a–z, 0–9. Shell special characters ("$", quotes,
  73     backslash, backtick) must be escaped with backslashes, following
  74     shell style. All strings should be in UTF-8 format, and
  75     non-printable characters should not be used. It is not supported
  76     to concatenate multiple individually quoted strings. Lines
  77     beginning with "#" shall be ignored as comments.</para>
  78
  79     <para>The file <filename>/etc/os-release</filename> takes
  80     precedence over <filename>/usr/lib/os-release</filename>.
  81     Applications should check for the former, and exclusively use its
  82     data if it exists, and only fall back to
  83     <filename>/usr/lib/os-release</filename> if it is missing.
  84     Applications should not read data from both files at the same
  85     time. <filename>/usr/lib/os-release</filename> is the recommended
  86     place to store OS release information as part of vendor trees.
  87     <filename>/etc/os-release</filename> should be a relative symlink
  88     to <filename>/usr/lib/os-release</filename>, to provide
  89     compatibility with applications only looking at
  90     <filename>/etc</filename>. A relative symlink instead of an
  91     absolute symlink is necessary to avoid breaking the link in a
  92     chroot or initrd environment such as dracut.</para>
  93
  94     <para><filename>os-release</filename> contains data that is
  95     defined by the operating system vendor and should generally not be
  96     changed by the administrator.</para>
  97
  98     <para>As this file only encodes names and identifiers it should
  99     not be localized.</para>
 100
 101     <para>The <filename>/etc/os-release</filename> and
 102     <filename>/usr/lib/os-release</filename> files might be symlinks
 103     to other files, but it is important that the file is available
 104     from earliest boot on, and hence must be located on the root file
 105     system.</para>
 106
 107     <para>For a longer rationale for <filename>os-release</filename>
 108     please refer to the <ulink
 109     url="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/os-release">Announcement of <filename>/etc/os-release</filename></ulink>.</para>
 110   </refsect1>
 111
 112   <refsect1>
 113     <title>Options</title>
 114
 115     <para>The following OS identifications parameters may be set using
 116     <filename>os-release</filename>:</para>
 117
 118     <variablelist>
 119
 120       <varlistentry>
 121         <term><varname>NAME=</varname></term>
 122
 123         <listitem><para>A string identifying the operating system,
 124         without a version component, and suitable for presentation to
 125         the user. If not set, defaults to
 126         <literal>NAME=Linux</literal>. Example:
 127         <literal>NAME=Fedora</literal> or <literal>NAME="Debian
 128         GNU/Linux"</literal>.</para></listitem>
 129       </varlistentry>
 130
 131       <varlistentry>
 132         <term><varname>VERSION=</varname></term>
 133
 134         <listitem><para>A string identifying the operating system
 135         version, excluding any OS name information, possibly including
 136         a release code name, and suitable for presentation to the
 137         user. This field is optional. Example:
 138         <literal>VERSION=17</literal> or <literal>VERSION="17 (Beefy
 139         Miracle)"</literal>.</para></listitem>
 140       </varlistentry>
 141
 142       <varlistentry>
 143         <term><varname>ID=</varname></term>
 144
 145         <listitem><para>A lower-case string (no spaces or other
 146         characters outside of 0–9, a–z, ".", "_" and "-") identifying
 147         the operating system, excluding any version information and
 148         suitable for processing by scripts or usage in generated
 149         filenames. If not set, defaults to
 150         <literal>ID=linux</literal>. Example:
 151         <literal>ID=fedora</literal> or
 152         <literal>ID=debian</literal>.</para></listitem>
 153       </varlistentry>
 154
 155       <varlistentry>
 156         <term><varname>ID_LIKE=</varname></term>
 157
 158         <listitem><para>A space-separated list of operating system
 159         identifiers in the same syntax as the <varname>ID=</varname>
 160         setting. It should list identifiers of operating systems that
 161         are closely related to the local operating system in regards
 162         to packaging and programming interfaces, for example listing
 163         one or more OS identifiers the local OS is a derivative from.
 164         An OS should generally only list other OS identifiers it
 165         itself is a derivative of, and not any OSes that are derived
 166         from it, though symmetric relationships are possible. Build
 167         scripts and similar should check this variable if they need to
 168         identify the local operating system and the value of
 169         <varname>ID=</varname> is not recognized. Operating systems
 170         should be listed in order of how closely the local operating
 171         system relates to the listed ones, starting with the closest.
 172         This field is optional. Example: for an operating system with
 173         <literal>ID=centos</literal>, an assignment of
 174         <literal>ID_LIKE="rhel fedora"</literal> would be appropriate.
 175         For an operating system with <literal>ID=ubuntu</literal>, an
 176         assignment of <literal>ID_LIKE=debian</literal> is
 177         appropriate.</para></listitem>
 178       </varlistentry>
 179
 180       <varlistentry>
 181         <term><varname>VERSION_CODENAME=</varname></term>
 182
 183         <listitem><para>
 184         A lower-case string (no spaces or other characters outside of
 185         0–9, a–z, ".", "_" and "-") identifying the operating system
 186         release code name, excluding any OS name information or
 187         release version, and suitable for processing by scripts or
 188         usage in generated filenames. This field is optional and may
 189         not be implemented on all systems.
 190         Examples:
 191         <literal>VERSION_CODENAME=buster</literal>,
 192         <literal>VERSION_CODENAME=xenial</literal>
 193         </para></listitem>
 194       </varlistentry>
 195
 196       <varlistentry>
 197         <term><varname>VERSION_ID=</varname></term>
 198
 199         <listitem><para>A lower-case string (mostly numeric, no spaces
 200         or other characters outside of 0–9, a–z, ".", "_" and "-")
 201         identifying the operating system version, excluding any OS
 202         name information or release code name, and suitable for
 203         processing by scripts or usage in generated filenames. This
 204         field is optional. Example: <literal>VERSION_ID=17</literal>
 205         or <literal>VERSION_ID=11.04</literal>.</para></listitem>
 206       </varlistentry>
 207
 208       <varlistentry>
 209         <term><varname>PRETTY_NAME=</varname></term>
 210
 211         <listitem><para>A pretty operating system name in a format
 212         suitable for presentation to the user. May or may not contain
 213         a release code name or OS version of some kind, as suitable.
 214         If not set, defaults to
 215         <literal>PRETTY_NAME="Linux"</literal>. Example:
 216         <literal>PRETTY_NAME="Fedora 17 (Beefy
 217         Miracle)"</literal>.</para></listitem>
 218       </varlistentry>
 219
 220       <varlistentry>
 221         <term><varname>ANSI_COLOR=</varname></term>
 222
 223         <listitem><para>A suggested presentation color when showing
 224         the OS name on the console. This should be specified as string
 225         suitable for inclusion in the ESC [ m ANSI/ECMA-48 escape code
 226         for setting graphical rendition. This field is optional.
 227         Example: <literal>ANSI_COLOR="0;31"</literal> for red, or
 228         <literal>ANSI_COLOR="1;34"</literal> for light
 229         blue.</para></listitem>
 230       </varlistentry>
 231
 232       <varlistentry>
 233         <term><varname>CPE_NAME=</varname></term>
 234
 235         <listitem><para>A CPE name for the operating system, in URI
 236         binding syntax, following the
 237         <ulink url="http://scap.nist.gov/specifications/cpe/">Common
 238         Platform Enumeration Specification</ulink> as proposed by the
 239         NIST. This field is optional. Example:
 240         <literal>CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:fedoraproject:fedora:17"</literal>
 241         </para></listitem>
 242       </varlistentry>
 243
 244       <varlistentry>
 245         <term><varname>HOME_URL=</varname></term>
 246         <term><varname>SUPPORT_URL=</varname></term>
 247         <term><varname>BUG_REPORT_URL=</varname></term>
 248         <term><varname>PRIVACY_POLICY_URL=</varname></term>
 249
 250         <listitem><para>Links to resources on the Internet related the
 251         operating system. <varname>HOME_URL=</varname> should refer to
 252         the homepage of the operating system, or alternatively some
 253         homepage of the specific version of the operating system.
 254         <varname>SUPPORT_URL=</varname> should refer to the main
 255         support page for the operating system, if there is any. This
 256         is primarily intended for operating systems which vendors
 257         provide support for. <varname>BUG_REPORT_URL=</varname> should
 258         refer to the main bug reporting page for the operating system,
 259         if there is any. This is primarily intended for operating
 260         systems that rely on community QA.
 261         <varname>PRIVACY_POLICY_URL=</varname> should refer to the
 262         main privacy policy page for the operation system, if there is
 263         any. These settings are optional, and providing only some of
 264         these settings is common. These URLs are intended to be
 265         exposed in "About this system" UIs behind links with captions
 266         such as "About this Operating System", "Obtain Support",
 267         "Report a Bug", or "Privacy Policy". The values should be in
 268         <ulink url="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986">RFC3986
 269         format</ulink>, and should be <literal>http:</literal> or
 270         <literal>https:</literal> URLs, and possibly
 271         <literal>mailto:</literal> or <literal>tel:</literal>. Only
 272         one URL shall be listed in each setting. If multiple resources
 273         need to be referenced, it is recommended to provide an online
 274         landing page linking all available resources. Examples:
 275         <literal>HOME_URL="https://fedoraproject.org/"</literal> and
 276         <literal>BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/"</literal></para></listitem>
 277       </varlistentry>
 278
 279       <varlistentry>
 280         <term><varname>BUILD_ID=</varname></term>
 281
 282         <listitem><para>A string uniquely identifying the system image
 283         used as the origin for a distribution (it is not updated with
 284         system updates). The field can be identical between different
 285         VERSION_IDs as BUILD_ID is an only a unique identifier to a
 286         specific version. Distributions that release each update as a
 287         new version would only need to use VERSION_ID as each build is
 288         already distinct based on the VERSION_ID. This field is
 289         optional. Example: <literal>BUILD_ID="2013-03-20.3"</literal>
 290         or <literal>BUILD_ID=201303203</literal>.
 291
 292         </para></listitem>
 293       </varlistentry>
 294
 295       <varlistentry>
 296         <term><varname>VARIANT=</varname></term>
 297
 298         <listitem><para>
 299         A string identifying a specific variant or edition of the
 300         operating system suitable for presentation to the user. This
 301         field may be used to inform the user that the configuration of
 302         this system is subject to a specific divergent set of rules or
 303         default configuration settings. This field is optional and may
 304         not be implemented on all systems.
 305         Examples:
 306         <literal>VARIANT="Server Edition"</literal>,
 307         <literal>VARIANT="Smart Refrigerator Edition"</literal>
 308         Note: this field is for display purposes only. The
 309         <varname>VARIANT_ID</varname> field should be used for making
 310         programmatic decisions.
 311         </para></listitem>
 312       </varlistentry>
 313
 314       <varlistentry>
 315         <term><varname>VARIANT_ID=</varname></term>
 316
 317         <listitem><para>
 318         A lower-case string (no spaces or other characters outside of
 319         0–9, a–z, ".", "_" and "-"), identifying a specific variant or
 320         edition of the operating system. This may be interpreted by
 321         other packages in order to determine a divergent default
 322         configuration. This field is optional and may not be
 323         implemented on all systems.
 324         Examples:
 325         <literal>VARIANT_ID=server</literal>,
 326         <literal>VARIANT_ID=embedded</literal>
 327         </para></listitem>
 328       </varlistentry>
 329
 330     </variablelist>
 331
 332     <para>If you are reading this file from C code or a shell script
 333     to determine the OS or a specific version of it, use the
 334     <varname>ID</varname> and <varname>VERSION_ID</varname> fields,
 335     possibly with <varname>ID_LIKE</varname> as fallback for
 336     <varname>ID</varname>. When looking for an OS identification
 337     string for presentation to the user use the
 338     <varname>PRETTY_NAME</varname> field.</para>
 339
 340     <para>Note that operating system vendors may choose not to provide
 341     version information, for example to accommodate for rolling
 342     releases. In this case, <varname>VERSION</varname> and
 343     <varname>VERSION_ID</varname> may be unset. Applications should
 344     not rely on these fields to be set.</para>
 345
 346     <para>Operating system vendors may extend the file
 347     format and introduce new fields. It is highly
 348     recommended to prefix new fields with an OS specific
 349     name in order to avoid name clashes. Applications
 350     reading this file must ignore unknown fields. Example:
 351     <literal>DEBIAN_BTS="debbugs://bugs.debian.org/"</literal></para>
 352   </refsect1>
 353
 354   <refsect1>
 355     <title>Example</title>
 356
 357     <programlisting>NAME=Fedora
 358 VERSION="17 (Beefy Miracle)"
 359 ID=fedora
 360 VERSION_ID=17
 361 PRETTY_NAME="Fedora 17 (Beefy Miracle)"
 362 ANSI_COLOR="0;34"
 363 CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:fedoraproject:fedora:17"
 364 HOME_URL="https://fedoraproject.org/"
 365 BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/"</programlisting>
 366   </refsect1>
 367
 368   <refsect1>
 369       <title>See Also</title>
 370       <para>
 371         <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
 372         <citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>lsb_release</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
 373         <citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
 374         <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-id</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
 375         <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-info</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
 376       </para>
 377   </refsect1>
 378
 379 </refentry>