[drkonqi] [Bug 313079] New: DrKonqi should use /etc/os-release as another way of getting Linux distribution information in addition to lsb_release

[Jekyll Wu]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=313079

            Bug ID: 313079
           Summary: DrKonqi should use /etc/os-release as another way of
                    getting Linux distribution information in addition to
                    lsb_release
    Classification: Unclassified
           Product: drkonqi
           Version: 2.1.5
          Hardware: Gentoo Packages
                OS: Linux
            Status: CONFIRMED
          Severity: wishlist
          Priority: NOR
         Component: general
          Assignee: unassigned-bugs at kde.org
          Reporter: adaptee at gmail.com
                CC: kiagiadakis.george at gmail.com

Currently Drkonqi relies on running "lsb_release -sd" to guess the Linux
distribution and thus fill the "Hardward" (confusing name) field on
bugs.kde.org .

There are some problems with relying on lsb_release available on runtime :

    * Some major Linux distributions don't install lsb_release by default, or
even don't provide it in official repos. Examples are Arch(in the [community]
repo), Fedora(not installed by default), Gentoo(not installed by default) and
Slackware (seemingly not provided at all).  That is a bit ironical considering
the name and intention of lsb_release.

    * Even on distributions where lsb_release are installed by default, they
are usually not considered as essential part of the system, so users can remove
the package easily.

So in practice, there are enough chances that lsb_release is unavailable when
DrKonqi runs. 

On the other hand, /etc/os-release[1][2], although being one new thing, has
been adopted by all major Linux distributions in their latest versions AFAIK. 
/etc/os-release is also seen as the essential part of the system, so users
basically can't remove the package containing /etc/os-release.  That means
/etc/os-release can be seen as one/the reliable source of Linux distribution
information.

So I would propose adding /etc/os-release as *another* way of getting Linux
distribution information in addition to the lsb_release script. It should be
considered only when lsb_release is unavailable or doesn't  give useful
information.

Some related links:


[1] http://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/os-release.html
[2] http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/os-release.html
[3]
https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?f1=longdesc&list_id=385551&bug_severity=crash&o1=notsubstring&op_sys=Linux&query_format=advanced&rep_platform=unspecified&bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&bug_status=CONFIRMED&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&longdesc=Drkonqi%20&v1=Mint&longdesc_type=allwordssubstr


Reproducible: Always

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