../webpage/int-main/20070703-plea-for-etc-distribution.phtml

As Information Technology consultants Edoceo as many oppourtunities to use different distributions. As any savvy GNU/Linux user will know each distribution of this platform comes with it's specific methodolgies. There are a few major distros - RedHat/Fedora, Debian/Ubuntu, Slackware, Gentoo - but some smaller players - and overlays are somewhat hard to identify. Edoceo desires a way for all major and minor distributions to clearly and cleanly identify themselves.

Customisation of Systems

The nature of the GNU/Linux system is that it can be highly customsied. As a blatant plug Edoceo distributes an overlay on Gentoo called the Element. Many other vendors, consultants and OEMs are building on anothers base platform. A considerable number of "network appliances" are nothing more than a tweaked kernel and additional set of packages with custom settings.

Distribution Identification Difficulties

Identification of a specific distribution can somtimes be difficult. Many of those who customise a system will remove any tags in the kernel that are visible with `uname`. Each distribution has a specific method of identifying itself. This can lead to frustration for engineers and administrators in mixed environments.

Proposal

We are proposing a method for a distribution or sub-distribution or customisation of another distribution can clearly identify itself. The request is that all system adopt a method of identifying themselves via /etc/distribution. There is no defined format for this file, it is meant to be interpreted by humans. We provide some examples below of what we think is desireable for other vendors (et al) to use.

These sample files are a single line descriptor - whitespace seperated. All samples are following the format [Organisation/Flavour] [Version] [Web-Site]. Below each example is seperated by hash (#) marks.

# Our Customised Systems
Edoceo/Element 1780 http://edoceo.com/creo/element

# A suggestion for Debian
Debian/Workstation 10 http://www.debian.com/

# Suggestion for Ubuntu
Ubuntu/Server Feisty http://www.ubuntu.com/

# Suggestion for Slackware
Slackware 12 http://slackware.com/