"VERSION_ID" in /etc/os-release does not include point release number

[bugproxy]

== Comment: #0 - SONG YANG <email address hidden> - 2014-11-18 22:06:44 ==
---Problem Description---
"VERSION_ID" in /etc/os-release of ubuntu 14.04.1 is not correct

---uname output---
Linux c910f03c05k05 3.13.0-32-generic #57-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jul 15 03:50:31 UTC 2014 ppc64le ppc64le ppc64le GNU/Linux

Machine Type = P8

---Debugger---
A debugger is not configured

---Steps to Reproduce---
# apt-file find /etc/os-release
base-files: /etc/os-release
# cat /etc/os-release
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="14.04.1 LTS, Trusty Tahr"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS"
VERSION_ID="14.04"
HOME_URL="http://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"

according to the manpage of /etc/os-release, the "VERSION_ID" should be "14.04.1", however it still keeps "14.04",which is confused for the system management tool developers. The "VERSION" and "PRETTY_NAME" seems to be correct, however, these 2 fields are for presentation to the user, which is not suitable for the script parsing.

The following lines are excerpted from the os-release DOC:
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 filenames. If not set, defaults to "ID=linux". Example: "ID=fedora" or "ID=debian".

ID_LIKE=
A space-separated list of operating system identifiers in the same syntax as the ID= setting. It should list identifiers of operating systems that are closely related to the local operating system in regards to packaging and programming interfaces, for example listing one or more OS identifiers the local OS is a derivative from. An OS should generally only list other OS identifiers it itself is a derivative of, and not any OSes that are derived from it, though symmetric relationships are possible. Build scripts and similar should check this variable if they need to identify the local operating system and the value of ID= is not recognized. Operating systems should be listed in order of how closely the local operating system relates to the listed ones, starting with the closest. This field is optional. Example: for an operating system with "ID=centos", an assignment of "ID_LIKE="rhel fedora"" would be appropriate. For an operating system with "ID=ubuntu", an assignment of "ID_LIKE=debian" is appropriate.

VERSION_ID=
A lower-case string (mostly numeric, no spaces or other characters outside of 0-9, a-z, ".", "_" and "-") identifying the operating system version, excluding any OS name information or release code name, and suitable for processing by scripts or usage in generated filenames. This field is optional. Example: "VERSION_ID=17" or "VERSION_ID=11.04".

Install method: ALL

Install disk info: NA

Install ISO Information: ubuntu-14.04.1-server-ppc64el.iso

Userspace tool common name: NA

The userspace tool has the following bit modes: both

Userspace rpm: NA

Userspace tool obtained from project website: base-files

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1394469/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

[This is an automated message. I apologize if it reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

This is also true of Ubuntu 12.04 and I image other LTS releases with point releases.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Nothing in the definition of /etc/os-release requires that this field be updated for point releases. It is Ubuntu policy to not update the machine-readable field in this file (and in /etc/lsb-release), because software *should not* treat point releases differently than they treat the original release. If there is a need to treat the releases differently, it should be on the basis of specific packages that are installed (or not), which you would check with dpkg, not with /etc/os-release.

[bugproxy (bugproxy)]

------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2014-12-08 16:35 EDT-------
Ubuntu policy described in Comment #6 sounds clear at this point. If you disagree, feel free to reopen the bug