Re: pkgrsc opsys version for Linux

[David Brownlee <abs%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On 14 December 2010 15:33, Larson, Timothy E. <TELarson%west.com@localhost> 
wrote:
>> Well, not yet, since I haven't added code for Linux yet.
>> Where's this "-1.ydl61.5" coming from? What does it mean, if
>> anything?
>
> Something to do with the vendor/distro. Â(I assume some kind of build number 
> for QA.) ÂI use Yellow Dog Linux (YDL). ÂOn a box I have available at work 
> (CentOS, based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux), the uname -r is 
> "2.6.18-53.1.14.el5" (note the "EL" toward the end). ÂYDL is also based on 
> RH/CentOS. ÂPerhaps this extra version info is peculiar to RH-derived 
> Linuxen? ÂMy Ubuntu box is packed up in preparation to move, but maybe 
> someone could check some other Linux flavors?

An ubuntu 10 box reports:
Linux mehet 2.6.32-24-generic #43-Ubuntu SMP Thu Sep 16 14:17:33 UTC
2010 i686 GNU/Linux

and "uname -r" from a quick selection of RedHat ES & CentOS boxes

2.6.18-164.11.1.el5
2.6.18-194.11.3.el5
2.6.18-194.11.4.el5
2.6.18-194.17.1.el5
2.6.18-194.26.1.el5
2.6.18-194.el5

Actually for RedHat derived systems I think the ([a-z].*)$ part is
probably the most useful identifier, or at least worth retaining. a
system which is el5 vs el4 is a more important difference than kernel
version.

For RedHat derived Linux the OS version should probably chop out
/-[^a-z]*(?:\.[a-z])/ (the minor kernel version), and potentially for
ubuntu and debian at least /-.*(?:-)/. Fortunately those two are safe
to run on the "other" format uname -r :)