diff --git a/man/os-release.xml b/man/os-release.xml
index 7f7ce142e0..7d799721de 100644
--- a/man/os-release.xml
+++ b/man/os-release.xml
@@ -58,18 +58,37 @@
contains operating system identification data.
The basic file format of
- os-release is a
- newline-separated list of environment-like
- shell-compatible variable assignments. It is possible
- to source the configuration from shell scripts,
- however, beyond mere variable assignments no shell
- features are supported, allowing applications to read
- the file without implementing a shell compatible
- execution engine.
+ os-release is a newline-separated
+ list of environment-like shell-compatible variable
+ assignments. It is possible to source the
+ configuration from shell scripts, however, beyond mere
+ variable assignments no shell features are supported
+ (this means variable expansion is explicitly not
+ supported), allowing applications to read the file
+ without implementing a shell compatible execution
+ engine. Variable assignment values should be enclosed
+ in double or single quotes if they include spaces,
+ semicolons or other special characters outside of A-Z,
+ a-z, 0-9. All strings should be in UTF-8 format, and
+ non-printable characters should not be used. If double
+ or single quotes or backslashes are to be used within
+ variable assignments they should be escaped with
+ backslashes, following shell style. It is not
+ supported to concatenate multiple individually quoted
+ strings. Lines beginning with "#" shall be ignored as
+ comments.
/etc/os-release contains
data that is defined by the operating system vendor
and should not be changed by the administrator.
+
+ As this file only encodes names and identifiers
+ it should not be localized.
+
+ For a longer rationale for
+ /etc/os-release please refer to
+ the Announcement of /etc/os-release.
@@ -99,27 +118,30 @@
A string identifying
the operating system version,
- excluding any OS name information, and
- suitable for presentation to the
- user. This field is optional. Example:
+ excluding any OS name information,
+ possibly including a release code
+ name, and suitable for presentation to
+ the user. This field is
+ optional. Example:
VERSION=17 or
- VERSION="17
- (Beefy Miracle)".
+ VERSION="17 (Beefy
+ Miracle)".
ID=
A lower-case string
- (no spaces or other characters outside of
- 0-9, a-z, ".", "_" and "-") identifying
- the operating system, excluding any
- version information and suitable for
- processing by scripts or usage in
- generated file names. If not set
- defaults to
+ (no spaces or other characters outside
+ of 0-9, a-z, ".", "_" and "-")
+ identifying the operating system,
+ excluding any version information and
+ suitable for processing by scripts or
+ usage in generated file names. If not
+ set defaults to
ID=linux. Example:
- ID=fedora.
+ ID=fedora or
+ ID=debian.
@@ -130,7 +152,7 @@
characters outside of 0-9, a-z, ".",
"_" and "-") identifying the operating
system version, excluding any OS name
- information or release code names, and
+ information or release code name, and
suitable for processing by scripts or
usage in generated file names. This
field is optional. Example:
@@ -144,11 +166,12 @@
A pretty operating
system name in a format suitable for
presentation to the user. May or may
- not contain an OS version of some
- kind, as suitable. If not set defaults
- to PRETTY_NAME="Linux". Example:
- PRETTY_NAME="Fedora 17
- (Beefy Miracle)".
+ not contain a release code name or OS
+ version of some kind, as suitable. If
+ not set defaults to
+ PRETTY_NAME="Linux". Example:
+ PRETTY_NAME="Fedora 17 (Beefy
+ Miracle)".
@@ -202,7 +225,7 @@
NAME=Fedora
VERSION="17 (Beefy Miracle)"
ID=fedora
-VERSION_ID=15
+VERSION_ID=17
PRETTY_NAME="Fedora 17 (Beefy Miracle)"
ANSI_COLOR="0;34"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:fedoraproject:fedora:17"