Ben Finney composed on 2016-08-01 03:20 (UTC-0400):
Felix Miata wrote:
Will someone please explain (or point to, since it's not in release notes), why:
1: /etc/os-release (in Jessie at least) does not include the point release version as represented by /etc/debian_version
The proximate explanation is: Because the API for that file is different. It describes the stable release for its whole lifetime, not the updates made since that version of Debian was released.
Given the many possible options[1] for that file's content, one would think there would be a way to get the extra detail in, maybe VERSION_ID=8 and VERSION="8.5 (Jessie)", or move "Jessie" to VERSION_CODENAME and put 8.5 as VERSION.
A related question might be: Where is the canonical location of the version string that *includes* the update (e.g. “8.5”)? I don't know whether such a thing exists.
2: 8.5 (as installed here on host gx62b) is not using the (LTS) 4.4 kernel
I expect the reason is: Because at the time Jessie was frozen, Linux 4.4 was not released. An update to Jessie is made only to fix bugs, not to gain new releases of packages.
The question was a huge bungle. I was off by a year, thinking that Jessie somehow had managed to get all the way from 8.0 to 8.5 since the more recent January's LTS kernel 4.4. :-p
So the question instead is: Why would the general policy of “don't upgrade a package to a new version” for Debian stable releases, have an exception for this package?
[1] https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/os-release.html -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/
