Hi Santiago, There have been many bugs over the years, and this issue keep biting. Jut fell into it yet again. Please, let's fix this, once and for all. os-release is the Linux standard for identifying images, and we need to make it useful for our users for testing and unstable too, not just for stable.
Currently in unstable/testing os-release contains: PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux trixie/sid" VERSION_CODENAME=trixie And debian_version contains: trixie/sid This is confusing and breaks all the software out there that needs to distinguish between releases. And yes, they are different releases, as the archives are different and separate. And when we create an unstable or testing image, we choose one OR the other, not both, not either. debootstrap unstable or debootstrap testing Then after creating the image, we lose the ability to figure out which is which, and have to resort to ugly hacks like grepping in /etc/apt/sources.list, praying that it doesn't contain both repositories. This needs to be fixed. Here is a concrete proposal: Move os-release and debian_version to a separate source package, in a separate binary package, that base-files will depend on. At the beginning of a cycle, upload os-release containing, for example: VERSION_CODENAME=trixie PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux trixie" and debian_version: trixie Give it urgency=high and let it migrate quickly. Then, upload again immediately, with: VERSION_CODENAME=sid PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux sid" and debian_version: sid and file an RC bug on it to stop it from migrating. At the end of the cycle, repeat and add the VERSION_ID and other fields if you want to only add them on release day. With 2 uploads every ~2 years, the problem is solved, unstable can be identified as unstable, and testing can be identified as testing. For ~4 days in a 2 years period, unstable will have a wrong identifier. Compared to the current situation when it is always wrong, we can live with it I am sure. It can be reduced to 2 days and 1 upload if we immediately add the full next-release os-release content at the beginning of the cycle. If you do not have the time to work on the new package, as the upstream maintainer of the os-release spec, I volunteer to take care of it, if you wish it. -- Kind regards, Luca Boccassi
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