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:mod:`platform` --- Access to underlying platform's identifying data.
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======================================================================
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:synopsis: Retrieves as much platform identifying data as possible.
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.. moduleauthor:: Marc-Andre Lemburg <mal@egenix.com>
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.. sectionauthor:: Bjorn Pettersen <bpettersen@corp.fairisaac.com>
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Specific platforms listed alphabetically, with Linux included in the Unix
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.. function:: architecture(executable=sys.executable, bits='', linkage='')
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Queries the given executable (defaults to the Python interpreter binary) for
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various architecture information.
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Returns a tuple ``(bits, linkage)`` which contain information about the bit
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architecture and the linkage format used for the executable. Both values are
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Values that cannot be determined are returned as given by the parameter presets.
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If bits is given as ``''``, the :cfunc:`sizeof(pointer)` (or
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:cfunc:`sizeof(long)` on Python version < 1.5.2) is used as indicator for the
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supported pointer size.
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The function relies on the system's :file:`file` command to do the actual work.
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This is available on most if not all Unix platforms and some non-Unix platforms
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and then only if the executable points to the Python interpreter. Reasonable
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defaults are used when the above needs are not met.
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.. function:: machine()
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Returns the machine type, e.g. ``'i386'``. An empty string is returned if the
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value cannot be determined.
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Returns the computer's network name (may not be fully qualified!). An empty
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string is returned if the value cannot be determined.
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.. function:: platform(aliased=0, terse=0)
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Returns a single string identifying the underlying platform with as much useful
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information as possible.
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The output is intended to be *human readable* rather than machine parseable. It
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may look different on different platforms and this is intended.
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If *aliased* is true, the function will use aliases for various platforms that
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report system names which differ from their common names, for example SunOS will
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be reported as Solaris. The :func:`system_alias` function is used to implement
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Setting *terse* to true causes the function to return only the absolute minimum
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information needed to identify the platform.
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.. function:: processor()
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Returns the (real) processor name, e.g. ``'amdk6'``.
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An empty string is returned if the value cannot be determined. Note that many
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platforms do not provide this information or simply return the same value as for
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:func:`machine`. NetBSD does this.
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.. function:: python_build()
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Returns a tuple ``(buildno, builddate)`` stating the Python build number and
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.. function:: python_compiler()
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Returns a string identifying the compiler used for compiling Python.
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.. function:: python_branch()
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Returns a string identifying the Python implementation SCM branch.
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.. function:: python_implementation()
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Returns a string identifying the Python implementation. Possible return values
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are: 'CPython', 'IronPython', 'Jython'
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.. versionadded:: 2.6
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.. function:: python_revision()
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Returns a string identifying the Python implementation SCM revision.
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.. versionadded:: 2.6
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.. function:: python_version()
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Returns the Python version as string ``'major.minor.patchlevel'``
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Note that unlike the Python ``sys.version``, the returned value will always
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include the patchlevel (it defaults to 0).
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.. function:: python_version_tuple()
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Returns the Python version as tuple ``(major, minor, patchlevel)`` of strings.
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Note that unlike the Python ``sys.version``, the returned value will always
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include the patchlevel (it defaults to ``'0'``).
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.. function:: release()
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Returns the system's release, e.g. ``'2.2.0'`` or ``'NT'`` An empty string is
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returned if the value cannot be determined.
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.. function:: system()
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Returns the system/OS name, e.g. ``'Linux'``, ``'Windows'``, or ``'Java'``. An
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empty string is returned if the value cannot be determined.
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.. function:: system_alias(system, release, version)
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Returns ``(system, release, version)`` aliased to common marketing names used
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for some systems. It also does some reordering of the information in some cases
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where it would otherwise cause confusion.
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.. function:: version()
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Returns the system's release version, e.g. ``'#3 on degas'``. An empty string is
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returned if the value cannot be determined.
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.. function:: uname()
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Fairly portable uname interface. Returns a tuple of strings ``(system, node,
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release, version, machine, processor)`` identifying the underlying platform.
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Note that unlike the :func:`os.uname` function this also returns possible
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processor information as additional tuple entry.
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Entries which cannot be determined are set to ``''``.
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.. function:: java_ver(release='', vendor='', vminfo=('','',''), osinfo=('','',''))
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Version interface for JPython.
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Returns a tuple ``(release, vendor, vminfo, osinfo)`` with *vminfo* being a
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tuple ``(vm_name, vm_release, vm_vendor)`` and *osinfo* being a tuple
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``(os_name, os_version, os_arch)``. Values which cannot be determined are set to
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the defaults given as parameters (which all default to ``''``).
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.. function:: win32_ver(release='', version='', csd='', ptype='')
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Get additional version information from the Windows Registry and return a tuple
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``(version, csd, ptype)`` referring to version number, CSD level and OS type
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(multi/single processor).
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As a hint: *ptype* is ``'Uniprocessor Free'`` on single processor NT machines
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and ``'Multiprocessor Free'`` on multi processor machines. The *'Free'* refers
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to the OS version being free of debugging code. It could also state *'Checked'*
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which means the OS version uses debugging code, i.e. code that checks arguments,
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Note: this function works best with Mark Hammond's
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:mod:`win32all` package installed, but also on Python 2.3 and
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later (support for this was added in Python 2.6). It obviously
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only runs on Win32 compatible platforms.
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.. function:: popen(cmd, mode='r', bufsize=None)
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Portable :func:`popen` interface. Find a working popen implementation
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preferring :func:`win32pipe.popen`. On Windows NT, :func:`win32pipe.popen`
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should work; on Windows 9x it hangs due to bugs in the MS C library.
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.. function:: mac_ver(release='', versioninfo=('','',''), machine='')
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Get Mac OS version information and return it as tuple ``(release, versioninfo,
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machine)`` with *versioninfo* being a tuple ``(version, dev_stage,
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non_release_version)``.
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Entries which cannot be determined are set to ``''``. All tuple entries are
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Documentation for the underlying :cfunc:`gestalt` API is available online at
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http://www.rgaros.nl/gestalt/.
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.. function:: dist(distname='', version='', id='', supported_dists=('SuSE','debian','redhat','mandrake',...))
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This is another name for :func:`linux_distribution`.
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.. function:: linux_distribution(distname='', version='', id='', supported_dists=('SuSE','debian','redhat','mandrake',...), full_distribution_name=1)
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Tries to determine the name of the Linux OS distribution name.
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``supported_dists`` may be given to define the set of Linux distributions to
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look for. It defaults to a list of currently supported Linux distributions
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identified by their release file name.
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If ``full_distribution_name`` is true (default), the full distribution read
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from the OS is returned. Otherwise the short name taken from
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``supported_dists`` is used.
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Returns a tuple ``(distname,version,id)`` which defaults to the args given as
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parameters. ``id`` is the item in parentheses after the version number. It
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is usually the version codename.
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.. function:: libc_ver(executable=sys.executable, lib='', version='', chunksize=2048)
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Tries to determine the libc version against which the file executable (defaults
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to the Python interpreter) is linked. Returns a tuple of strings ``(lib,
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version)`` which default to the given parameters in case the lookup fails.
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Note that this function has intimate knowledge of how different libc versions
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add symbols to the executable is probably only usable for executables compiled
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using :program:`gcc`.
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The file is read and scanned in chunks of *chunksize* bytes.