[Pkg-dkms-maint] Bug#547353: dkms does not consistently detect which distribution it is running on

[Ben Hutchings]

Package: dkms
Version: 2.0.22.0-1
Severity: normal

dkms includes many tests for which distribution is in use, in order
to follow the distribution's conventions.  There are many different
methods used and they are not all reliable (see #546896).

It should ideally determine the distribution just once.  This can be
done using the lsb_release command; then, if that fails, looking for
files such as /etc/debian_version, /etc/redhat-release and
/etc/SuSE-release and perhaps failing if more than one is present.

In the Debian package (and other distribution packages) this check
could be replaced with a static assignment.

Ben.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.30-1-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages dkms depends on:
ii  build-essential               11.4       Informational list of build-essent
ii  dpkg-dev                      1.15.4     Debian package development tools
ii  gcc                           4:4.3.3-9  The GNU C compiler
ii  make                          3.81-6     An utility for Directing compilati
ii  module-init-tools             3.10-3     tools for managing Linux kernel mo

Versions of packages dkms recommends:
ii  fakeroot                      1.13       Gives a fake root environment
ii  linux-headers-2.6.30-1-486 [l 2.6.30-6   Header files for Linux 2.6.30-1-48
ii  linux-headers-2.6.30-1-686 [l 2.6.30-6   Header files for Linux 2.6.30-1-68
ii  linux-headers-2.6.30-1-686-bi 2.6.30-6   Header files for Linux 2.6.30-1-68
ii  linux-headers-2.6.30-1-amd64  2.6.30-6   Header files for Linux 2.6.30-1-am
ii  linux-image-2.6.26-2-686 [lin 2.6.26-19  Linux 2.6.26 image on PPro/Celeron
ii  linux-image-2.6.30-1-amd64 [l 2.6.30-6   Linux 2.6.30 image on AMD64
ii  linux-image-2.6.30-2-amd64 [l 2.6.30-7   Linux 2.6.30 image on AMD64
ii  lsb-release                   3.2-23     Linux Standard Base version report
ii  menu                          2.1.41     generates programs menu for all me
ii  patch                         2.5.9-5    Apply a diff file to an original
ii  sudo                          1.7.2p1-1  Provide limited super user privile

dkms suggests no packages.

-- no debconf information