
``platform`` ---  Access to underlying platform's identifying data.
*******************************************************************

New in version 2.3.

Note: Specific platforms listed alphabetically, with Linux included in the
  Unix section.


Cross Platform
==============

platform.architecture(executable=sys.executable, bits='', linkage='')

   Queries the given executable (defaults to the Python interpreter
   binary) for various architecture information.

   Returns a tuple ``(bits, linkage)`` which contain information about
   the bit architecture and the linkage format used for the
   executable. Both values are returned as strings.

   Values that cannot be determined are returned as given by the
   parameter presets. If bits is given as ``''``, the
   ``sizeof(pointer)`` (or ``sizeof(long)`` on Python version < 1.5.2)
   is used as indicator for the supported pointer size.

   The function relies on the system's ``file`` command to do the
   actual work. This is available on most if not all Unix  platforms
   and some non-Unix platforms and then only if the executable points
   to the Python interpreter.  Reasonable defaults are used when the
   above needs are not met.

platform.machine()

   Returns the machine type, e.g. ``'i386'``. An empty string is
   returned if the value cannot be determined.

platform.node()

   Returns the computer's network name (may not be fully qualified!).
   An empty string is returned if the value cannot be determined.

platform.platform(aliased=0, terse=0)

   Returns a single string identifying the underlying platform with as
   much useful information as possible.

   The output is intended to be *human readable* rather than machine
   parseable. It may look different on different platforms and this is
   intended.

   If *aliased* is true, the function will use aliases for various
   platforms that report system names which differ from their common
   names, for example SunOS will be reported as Solaris.  The
   ``system_alias()`` function is used to implement this.

   Setting *terse* to true causes the function to return only the
   absolute minimum information needed to identify the platform.

platform.processor()

   Returns the (real) processor name, e.g. ``'amdk6'``.

   An empty string is returned if the value cannot be determined. Note
   that many platforms do not provide this information or simply
   return the same value as for ``machine()``.  NetBSD does this.

platform.python_build()

   Returns a tuple ``(buildno, builddate)`` stating the Python build
   number and date as strings.

platform.python_compiler()

   Returns a string identifying the compiler used for compiling
   Python.

platform.python_branch()

   Returns a string identifying the Python implementation SCM branch.

   New in version 2.6.

platform.python_implementation()

   Returns a string identifying the Python implementation. Possible
   return values are: 'CPython', 'IronPython', 'Jython'

   New in version 2.6.

platform.python_revision()

   Returns a string identifying the Python implementation SCM
   revision.

   New in version 2.6.

platform.python_version()

   Returns the Python version as string ``'major.minor.patchlevel'``

   Note that unlike the Python ``sys.version``, the returned value
   will always include the patchlevel (it defaults to 0).

platform.python_version_tuple()

   Returns the Python version as tuple ``(major, minor, patchlevel)``
   of strings.

   Note that unlike the Python ``sys.version``, the returned value
   will always include the patchlevel (it defaults to ``'0'``).

platform.release()

   Returns the system's release, e.g. ``'2.2.0'`` or ``'NT'`` An empty
   string is returned if the value cannot be determined.

platform.system()

   Returns the system/OS name, e.g. ``'Linux'``, ``'Windows'``, or
   ``'Java'``. An empty string is returned if the value cannot be
   determined.

platform.system_alias(system, release, version)

   Returns ``(system, release, version)`` aliased to common marketing
   names used for some systems.  It also does some reordering of the
   information in some cases where it would otherwise cause confusion.

platform.version()

   Returns the system's release version, e.g. ``'#3 on degas'``. An
   empty string is returned if the value cannot be determined.

platform.uname()

   Fairly portable uname interface. Returns a tuple of strings
   ``(system, node, release, version, machine, processor)``
   identifying the underlying platform.

   Note that unlike the ``os.uname()`` function this also returns
   possible processor information as additional tuple entry.

   Entries which cannot be determined are set to ``''``.


Java Platform
=============

platform.java_ver(release='', vendor='', vminfo=('', '', ''), osinfo=('', '', ''))

   Version interface for JPython.

   Returns a tuple ``(release, vendor, vminfo, osinfo)`` with *vminfo*
   being a tuple ``(vm_name, vm_release, vm_vendor)`` and *osinfo*
   being a tuple ``(os_name, os_version, os_arch)``. Values which
   cannot be determined are set to the defaults given as parameters
   (which all default to ``''``).


Windows Platform
================

platform.win32_ver(release='', version='', csd='', ptype='')

   Get additional version information from the Windows Registry and
   return a tuple ``(version, csd, ptype)`` referring to version
   number, CSD level and OS type (multi/single processor).

   As a hint: *ptype* is ``'Uniprocessor Free'`` on single processor
   NT machines and ``'Multiprocessor Free'`` on multi processor
   machines. The *'Free'* refers to the OS version being free of
   debugging code. It could also state *'Checked'* which means the OS
   version uses debugging code, i.e. code that checks arguments,
   ranges, etc.

   Note: Note: this function works best with Mark Hammond's ``win32all``
     package installed, but also on Python 2.3 and later (support for
     this was added in Python 2.6). It obviously only runs on Win32
     compatible platforms.


Win95/98 specific
-----------------

platform.popen(cmd, mode='r', bufsize=None)

   Portable ``popen()`` interface.  Find a working popen
   implementation preferring ``win32pipe.popen()``.  On Windows NT,
   ``win32pipe.popen()`` should work; on Windows 9x it hangs due to
   bugs in the MS C library.


Mac OS Platform
===============

platform.mac_ver(release='', versioninfo=('', '', ''), machine='')

   Get Mac OS version information and return it as tuple ``(release,
   versioninfo, machine)`` with *versioninfo* being a tuple
   ``(version, dev_stage, non_release_version)``.

   Entries which cannot be determined are set to ``''``.  All tuple
   entries are strings.

   Documentation for the underlying ``gestalt`` API is available
   online at http://www.rgaros.nl/gestalt/.


Unix Platforms
==============

platform.dist(distname='', version='', id='', supported_dists=('SuSE', 'debian', 'redhat', 'mandrake', ...))

   This is another name for ``linux_distribution()``.

platform.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.

   ``supported_dists`` may be given to define the set of Linux
   distributions to look for. It defaults to a list of currently
   supported Linux distributions identified by their release file
   name.

   If ``full_distribution_name`` is true (default), the full
   distribution read from the OS is returned. Otherwise the short name
   taken from ``supported_dists`` is used.

   Returns a tuple ``(distname,version,id)`` which defaults to the
   args given as parameters.  ``id`` is the item in parentheses after
   the version number.  It is usually the version codename.

platform.libc_ver(executable=sys.executable, lib='', version='', chunksize=2048)

   Tries to determine the libc version against which the file
   executable (defaults to the Python interpreter) is linked.  Returns
   a tuple of strings ``(lib, version)`` which default to the given
   parameters in case the lookup fails.

   Note that this function has intimate knowledge of how different
   libc versions add symbols to the executable is probably only usable
   for executables compiled using **gcc**.

   The file is read and scanned in chunks of *chunksize* bytes.
