Issue #1322: platform.dist() and platform.linux_distribution() functions are now deprecated.

Initial patch by Vajrasky Kok.

Doc/library/platform.rst

@@ -247,6 +247,8 @@ Unix Platforms
 
    This is another name for :func:`linux_distribution`.
 
+   .. deprecated-removed:: 3.5 3.7
+
 .. function:: linux_distribution(distname='', version='', id='', supported_dists=('SuSE','debian','redhat','mandrake',...), full_distribution_name=1)
 
    Tries to determine the name of the Linux OS distribution name.
@@ -263,6 +265,8 @@ Unix Platforms
    parameters.  ``id`` is the item in parentheses after the version number.  It
    is usually the version codename.
 
+   .. deprecated-removed:: 3.5 3.7
+
 .. function:: libc_ver(executable=sys.executable, lib='', version='', chunksize=2048)
 
    Tries to determine the libc version against which the file executable (defaults

Doc/whatsnew/3.5.rst

@@ -700,6 +700,11 @@ Deprecated Python modules, functions and methods
   :meth:`~string.Formatter.format` method of the :class:`string.Formatter`
   class has been deprecated.
 
+* :func:`platform.dist` and :func:`platform.linux_distribution` functions are
+  now deprecated and will be removed in Python 3.7.  Linux distributions use
+  too many different ways of describing themselves, so the functionality is
+  left to a package.
+  (Contributed by Vajrasky Kok and Berker Peksag in :issue:`1322`.)
 
 Deprecated functions and types of the C API
 -------------------------------------------

Lib/platform.py

@@ -297,6 +297,15 @@ def linux_distribution(distname='', version='', id='',
 
                        supported_dists=_supported_dists,
                        full_distribution_name=1):
+    import warnings
+    warnings.warn("dist() and linux_distribution() functions are deprecated "
+                  "in Python 3.5 and will be removed in Python 3.7",
+                  PendingDeprecationWarning, stacklevel=2)
+    return _linux_distribution(distname, version, id, supported_dists,
+                               full_distribution_name)
+
+def _linux_distribution(distname, version, id, supported_dists,
+                        full_distribution_name):
 
     """ Tries to determine the name of the Linux OS distribution name.
 
@@ -363,9 +372,13 @@ def dist(distname='', version='', id='',
         args given as parameters.
 
     """
-    return linux_distribution(distname, version, id,
-                              supported_dists=supported_dists,
-                              full_distribution_name=0)
+    import warnings
+    warnings.warn("dist() and linux_distribution() functions are deprecated "
+                  "in Python 3.5 and will be removed in Python 3.7",
+                  PendingDeprecationWarning, stacklevel=2)
+    return _linux_distribution(distname, version, id,
+                               supported_dists=supported_dists,
+                               full_distribution_name=0)
 
 def popen(cmd, mode='r', bufsize=-1):
 

Lib/test/test_platform.py

@@ -311,10 +311,24 @@ class PlatformTest(unittest.TestCase):
             self.assertEqual(version, '19')
             self.assertEqual(distid, 'Schr\xf6dinger\u2019s Cat')
 
-def test_main():
-    support.run_unittest(
-        PlatformTest
-    )
+
+class DeprecationTest(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_dist_deprecation(self):
+        with self.assertWarns(PendingDeprecationWarning) as cm:
+            platform.dist()
+        self.assertEqual(str(cm.warning),
+                         'dist() and linux_distribution() functions are '
+                         'deprecated in Python 3.5 and will be removed in '
+                         'Python 3.7')
+
+    def test_linux_distribution_deprecation(self):
+        with self.assertWarns(PendingDeprecationWarning) as cm:
+            platform.linux_distribution()
+        self.assertEqual(str(cm.warning),
+                         'dist() and linux_distribution() functions are '
+                         'deprecated in Python 3.5 and will be removed in '
+                         'Python 3.7')
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    test_main()
+    unittest.main()

Misc/NEWS

@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #1322: platform.dist() and platform.linux_distribution() functions are
+  now deprecated.  Initial patch by Vajrasky Kok.
+
 - Issue #22486: Added the math.gcd() function.  The fractions.gcd() function now is
   deprecated.  Based on patch by Mark Dickinson.