Subject: bug#468: python platform.linux_distribution() returns debian

From: Mark Hindley <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 22 May 2020 10:45:05 +0100

Peter,

Thanks for this. It is somewhat problematic for a number of reasons:

 - python2 is EOL.
 
 - as you point out, platform.linux_distribution() is deprecated and slated for
   removal in python3 (presumably for the very reason you have discovered -- it
   isn't reliable).
   
 - In my opinion, applications and functions should use output of lsb_release
   -a directly (as many already do).
   
 - Devuan beowulf deliberately has ID=Debian in lsb_release -a (see the Release
   Notes[1] for an explanation why). This has been changed to ID=Devuan for
   ceres/chimaera.
   
 - neither python2 nor python3 are forked packages and Devuan uses Debian's
   packages directly.
 
Considering all that, I find it difficult to see a feasible route to fixing
this. Having /etc/lsb_release as another source of information only consulted by
some applications seems a retrograde step.

Best wishes,

Mark

[1]  https://files.devuan.org/devuan_beowulf/Release_notes.txt