On Mon, Mar 21, 2005 at 09:58:05AM +1000 or thereabouts, Michael Mansour wrote:
> Hi Ping,
> 
> > Hello,
> > 
> >      I'm wondering if there should be a /etc/scientific-release file
> > instead of /etc/redhat-release?

I think the only thing that really needs to be correct  is 

# lsb_release -d
Description:    Scientific Linux SL Release 3.0.4 (SL)

It is worth mentioning that LCG middleware intends to make use of this 
command to publish the operating system. Having this command work and publish
something sensible is important to this. What it publishes now is just fine.

Technically it should be  a
Description:    Scientific Linux SL release 3.0.4 (SL)

with a lower case 'r' in release but this is not important.

  Steve
> 
> I doubt this needs to be done since in effect, 3rd party RHEL distributions
> are still technically RHEL distributions, and they all have that commonality.
> Although you'll find within that file, their respective distribution will
> correctly be listed.
> 
> Keeping this the way it is also allows third party developers to correctly
> identify which distribution is running, as many currently use this file for
> this purpose.
> 
> >      Another problem is that when I upgrade a red hat 9 box to SL 
> > 3.0.4, the /etc/issue file still shows "Red Hat Linux release 9 
> > (Shrike)" instead of "Scientific Linux SL Release 3.0.4 (SL)".  This 
> > may cause an incorrect OS detection when building rpms on that SL box.
> 
> >From memory under RH9, the /etc/issue file is created via an rc script. Within
> SL, /etc/issue is provided from within the sl-release RPM package.
> 
> You may want to check that this SL package is installed. You may also like to
> check whether you have any ".rpmnew" files located on your system from the
> upgrade. Maybe also whether the rc script from RH9 which creates the
> /etc/issue file is still running or not (actually if it is, then it should
> write over that fileon boot). Lastly, you can edit the file manually to:
> 
> [root@gorilla root]# cat /etc/issue
> Scientific Linux SL Release 3.0.4 (SL)
> Kernel \r on an \m
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Michael.
> 
> > Regards,
> > Ping

-- 
Steve Traylen
[log in to unmask]
http://www.gridpp.ac.uk/