On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 8:52 AM, Jeff Spaleta <jspaleta@gmail.com> wrot
[...]
What defines a distribution? For fedora right now doesn't that pretty
much comes down to checking the fedora-release package version in the
installed rpmdb?
[...]

Why do you need the rpmdb to figure out what distribution is installed? It's much easier to inspect the filesystem (which shouldn't be a big deal) to figure out the distribution. If this fail it's quite easy to add an entry with unknown Linux installation or something like that.

We aren't going to be doing that sort of thing for slackware-esque or
debian-esque or foresight-esque or gentoo-esque distros. We may be
able to detect opensuse or other rpm based systems that
way...maybe...if the rpm databases are compatible with the rpm we
have.

This is simply ignorant. Others can do this as well and they are doing it. Ignoring this lead to bad rating for Fedora in some areas in test like the one in c't (don't forget, this is the leading it magazine in germany).

Regards, Thomas