Merge lp:~elementary-os/ubuntu/utopic/base-files/upstream-release-info into lp:ubuntu/utopic/base-files

[Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff]

Add a folder /etc/upstream-release/ with lsb-release file in it. This allows exposing the Ubuntu information in distributions derived from Ubuntu, and greatly simplifies version and codename handling for third parties targeting Ubuntu and derivatives.

This patch originates from JoliCloud and has been adopted in elementary OS and a development version of Linux Mint. I'm proposing it for merging into the Ubuntu package so that all Ubuntu derivatives could get it automatically, without the need to carry patches by themselves.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thanks, do you think that apply to Debian and could be forwarded to them as well?

review: Needs Information

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

I'm rejecting this for the same reason I rejected https://code.launchpad.net/~elementary-os/ubuntu/utopic/lsb/upstream-information/+merge/231704; it's important for this kind of extension to be done upstream or at the very least in Debian, as otherwise there's a substantial risk of a semantic clash later, and the fundamental design here needs much more thought about multiple levels of derivation.

Note that the supplied file is unambiguously wrong for Ubuntu in any event, since our "upstream release" would be a Debian release, not an Ubuntu release.

review: Disapprove

Unmerged revisions

114. By Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff on 2014-08-21

added README to upstream-release

113. By Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff on 2014-08-21

added upstream-release folder in /etc to be parsed by lsb-release

=== modified file 'debian/directory-list'
--- debian/directory-list	2012-10-22 16:57:35 +0000
+++ debian/directory-list	2014-08-21 10:52:37 +0000
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 etc/profile.d
 etc/skel
 etc/update-motd.d
+etc/upstream-release
 home
 lib
 mnt
 
=== modified file 'debian/rules'
--- debian/rules	2014-04-21 16:19:56 +0000
+++ debian/rules	2014-08-21 10:52:37 +0000
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@
 	rm -rf debian/lsb-release-udeb
 	install -d debian/lsb-release-udeb/DEBIAN debian/lsb-release-udeb/etc
 	install -p -m 644 etc/lsb-release debian/lsb-release-udeb/etc
+	install -p -m 644 upstream-release/* debian/tmp/etc/upstream-release
 	chown -R root:root debian/lsb-release-udeb
 	cd debian/lsb-release-udeb && chmod 755 `find . -type d`
 	dpkg-gencontrol -plsb-release-udeb \
 
=== added directory 'upstream-release'
=== added file 'upstream-release/README'
--- upstream-release/README	1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000
+++ upstream-release/README	2014-08-21 10:52:37 +0000
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+This folder contains information about the upstream distribution that the
+current one is derived from. For example, in Ubuntu derivatives the information
+about Ubuntu release they're based on can be read from here.
+
+Availability of such information greatly simplifies supporting derivatives
+in OS release detection. Application developers no longer have to track down
+mapping of every single derivative codename to Ubuntu codenames, they can
+simply query the codename of a major upstream distribution from here.
+
+This folder is an Ubuntu extension, so do not rely on its availability!
+The proper way to query it is to try this file first, and if it does not exist
+query /etc/lsb-release (assuming you're after the major distribution codename).
 
=== added file 'upstream-release/lsb-release'
--- upstream-release/lsb-release	1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000
+++ upstream-release/lsb-release	2014-08-21 10:52:37 +0000
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
+DISTRIB_RELEASE=14.10
+DISTRIB_CODENAME=utopic
+DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu Utopic Unicorn (development branch)"