why is /etc/debian_version wrong?

[MellowTigger]

I got a VPN client via work, and I tried to run the installer for the Debian/Ubuntu version on my home Linux Mint machine. It fails. I found where in the script it is failing. It's trying to check the Debian version number using this command (piped to other commands to strip out the actual major version number):

Code: Select all

cat /etc/debian_version

But it returns "stretch/sid", which obviously isn't any kind of Debian version.

I thought Linux Mint was based on Ubuntu which was based on Debian. So... why doesn't this work? I tried a few of the alternatives described here, but they also don't return any Debian-specific information.
https://linuxconfig.org/check-what-debi ... nux-system

I'm using Linux Mint 18.3, which I thought was a stable release? Apparently that text result is supposed to mean that I'm using a test version? What gives? I'm very confused and don't know how to tease this script into working for me.

[Hoser Rob]

Which VPN client?

BTW Stretch/sid is perfectly valid, at least on a Debian system. Are you sure the package was for Ubuntu?

[MellowTigger]

It shouldn't matter what VPN client in order for that command to work?

But, yes, the filename name specifically says "ubuntu-debian", and the instructions specifically mention Debian/Ubuntu too.
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pul ... le/KB40126

[MellowTigger]

p.s. So I guess my followup question is... how do I tell from within my Linux Mint environment which major Debian version my system is currently based on? I'm willing to manually alter the install script to use that method instead of its current one, but I don't know how to retrieve that major version number? Some of those other methods in that article I linked in the original post also do not return Debian-specific information.

But my original question remains, shouldn't "/etc/debian_version" be the canonical (joke) source of that information, since "debian" is right there in the filename?

[Pjotr]

Both stretch and sid are official Debian code names. Check what they pointed to in January, 2016 and you should have your answer.