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1:mod:`platform` ---  Access to underlying platform's identifying data
2=====================================================================
3
4.. module:: platform
5   :synopsis: Retrieves as much platform identifying data as possible.
6
7.. moduleauthor:: Marc-André Lemburg <mal@egenix.com>
8.. sectionauthor:: Bjorn Pettersen <bpettersen@corp.fairisaac.com>
9
10**Source code:** :source:`Lib/platform.py`
11
12--------------
13
14.. note::
15
16   Specific platforms listed alphabetically, with Linux included in the Unix
17   section.
18
19
20Cross Platform
21--------------
22
23
24.. function:: architecture(executable=sys.executable, bits='', linkage='')
25
26   Queries the given executable (defaults to the Python interpreter binary) for
27   various architecture information.
28
29   Returns a tuple ``(bits, linkage)`` which contain information about the bit
30   architecture and the linkage format used for the executable. Both values are
31   returned as strings.
32
33   Values that cannot be determined are returned as given by the parameter presets.
34   If bits is given as ``''``, the ``sizeof(pointer)`` (or
35   ``sizeof(long)`` on Python version < 1.5.2) is used as indicator for the
36   supported pointer size.
37
38   The function relies on the system's :file:`file` command to do the actual work.
39   This is available on most if not all Unix  platforms and some non-Unix platforms
40   and then only if the executable points to the Python interpreter.  Reasonable
41   defaults are used when the above needs are not met.
42
43   .. note::
44
45      On Mac OS X (and perhaps other platforms), executable files may be
46      universal files containing multiple architectures.
47
48      To get at the "64-bitness" of the current interpreter, it is more
49      reliable to query the :attr:`sys.maxsize` attribute::
50
51         is_64bits = sys.maxsize > 2**32
52
53
54.. function:: machine()
55
56   Returns the machine type, e.g. ``'i386'``. An empty string is returned if the
57   value cannot be determined.
58
59
60.. function:: node()
61
62   Returns the computer's network name (may not be fully qualified!). An empty
63   string is returned if the value cannot be determined.
64
65
66.. function:: platform(aliased=0, terse=0)
67
68   Returns a single string identifying the underlying platform with as much useful
69   information as possible.
70
71   The output is intended to be *human readable* rather than machine parseable. It
72   may look different on different platforms and this is intended.
73
74   If *aliased* is true, the function will use aliases for various platforms that
75   report system names which differ from their common names, for example SunOS will
76   be reported as Solaris.  The :func:`system_alias` function is used to implement
77   this.
78
79   Setting *terse* to true causes the function to return only the absolute minimum
80   information needed to identify the platform.
81
82
83.. function:: processor()
84
85   Returns the (real) processor name, e.g. ``'amdk6'``.
86
87   An empty string is returned if the value cannot be determined. Note that many
88   platforms do not provide this information or simply return the same value as for
89   :func:`machine`.  NetBSD does this.
90
91
92.. function:: python_build()
93
94   Returns a tuple ``(buildno, builddate)`` stating the Python build number and
95   date as strings.
96
97
98.. function:: python_compiler()
99
100   Returns a string identifying the compiler used for compiling Python.
101
102
103.. function:: python_branch()
104
105   Returns a string identifying the Python implementation SCM branch.
106
107
108.. function:: python_implementation()
109
110   Returns a string identifying the Python implementation. Possible return values
111   are: 'CPython', 'IronPython', 'Jython', 'PyPy'.
112
113
114.. function:: python_revision()
115
116   Returns a string identifying the Python implementation SCM revision.
117
118
119.. function:: python_version()
120
121   Returns the Python version as string ``'major.minor.patchlevel'``.
122
123   Note that unlike the Python ``sys.version``, the returned value will always
124   include the patchlevel (it defaults to 0).
125
126
127.. function:: python_version_tuple()
128
129   Returns the Python version as tuple ``(major, minor, patchlevel)`` of strings.
130
131   Note that unlike the Python ``sys.version``, the returned value will always
132   include the patchlevel (it defaults to ``'0'``).
133
134
135.. function:: release()
136
137   Returns the system's release, e.g. ``'2.2.0'`` or ``'NT'`` An empty string is
138   returned if the value cannot be determined.
139
140
141.. function:: system()
142
143   Returns the system/OS name, e.g. ``'Linux'``, ``'Windows'``, or ``'Java'``. An
144   empty string is returned if the value cannot be determined.
145
146
147.. function:: system_alias(system, release, version)
148
149   Returns ``(system, release, version)`` aliased to common marketing names used
150   for some systems.  It also does some reordering of the information in some cases
151   where it would otherwise cause confusion.
152
153
154.. function:: version()
155
156   Returns the system's release version, e.g. ``'#3 on degas'``. An empty string is
157   returned if the value cannot be determined.
158
159
160.. function:: uname()
161
162   Fairly portable uname interface. Returns a :func:`~collections.namedtuple`
163   containing six attributes: :attr:`system`, :attr:`node`, :attr:`release`,
164   :attr:`version`, :attr:`machine`, and :attr:`processor`.
165
166   Note that this adds a sixth attribute (:attr:`processor`) not present
167   in the :func:`os.uname` result.  Also, the attribute names are different
168   for the first two attributes; :func:`os.uname` names them
169   :attr:`sysname` and :attr:`nodename`.
170
171   Entries which cannot be determined are set to ``''``.
172
173   .. versionchanged:: 3.3
174      Result changed from a tuple to a namedtuple.
175
176
177Java Platform
178-------------
179
180
181.. function:: java_ver(release='', vendor='', vminfo=('','',''), osinfo=('','',''))
182
183   Version interface for Jython.
184
185   Returns a tuple ``(release, vendor, vminfo, osinfo)`` with *vminfo* being a
186   tuple ``(vm_name, vm_release, vm_vendor)`` and *osinfo* being a tuple
187   ``(os_name, os_version, os_arch)``. Values which cannot be determined are set to
188   the defaults given as parameters (which all default to ``''``).
189
190
191Windows Platform
192----------------
193
194
195.. function:: win32_ver(release='', version='', csd='', ptype='')
196
197   Get additional version information from the Windows Registry and return a tuple
198   ``(release, version, csd, ptype)`` referring to OS release, version number,
199   CSD level (service pack) and OS type (multi/single processor).
200
201   As a hint: *ptype* is ``'Uniprocessor Free'`` on single processor NT machines
202   and ``'Multiprocessor Free'`` on multi processor machines. The *'Free'* refers
203   to the OS version being free of debugging code. It could also state *'Checked'*
204   which means the OS version uses debugging code, i.e. code that checks arguments,
205   ranges, etc.
206
207   .. note::
208
209      This function works best with Mark Hammond's
210      :mod:`win32all` package installed, but also on Python 2.3 and
211      later (support for this was added in Python 2.6). It obviously
212      only runs on Win32 compatible platforms.
213
214
215Win95/98 specific
216^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
217
218.. function:: popen(cmd, mode='r', bufsize=-1)
219
220   Portable :func:`popen` interface.  Find a working popen implementation
221   preferring :func:`win32pipe.popen`.  On Windows NT, :func:`win32pipe.popen`
222   should work; on Windows 9x it hangs due to bugs in the MS C library.
223
224   .. deprecated:: 3.3
225      This function is obsolete.  Use the :mod:`subprocess` module.  Check
226      especially the :ref:`subprocess-replacements` section.
227
228
229Mac OS Platform
230---------------
231
232
233.. function:: mac_ver(release='', versioninfo=('','',''), machine='')
234
235   Get Mac OS version information and return it as tuple ``(release, versioninfo,
236   machine)`` with *versioninfo* being a tuple ``(version, dev_stage,
237   non_release_version)``.
238
239   Entries which cannot be determined are set to ``''``.  All tuple entries are
240   strings.
241
242
243Unix Platforms
244--------------
245
246
247.. function:: dist(distname='', version='', id='', supported_dists=('SuSE','debian','redhat','mandrake',...))
248
249   This is another name for :func:`linux_distribution`.
250
251   .. deprecated-removed:: 3.5 3.8
252      See alternative like the `distro <https://pypi.org/project/distro>`_ package.
253
254.. function:: linux_distribution(distname='', version='', id='', supported_dists=('SuSE','debian','redhat','mandrake',...), full_distribution_name=1)
255
256   Tries to determine the name of the Linux OS distribution name.
257
258   ``supported_dists`` may be given to define the set of Linux distributions to
259   look for. It defaults to a list of currently supported Linux distributions
260   identified by their release file name.
261
262   If ``full_distribution_name`` is true (default), the full distribution read
263   from the OS is returned. Otherwise the short name taken from
264   ``supported_dists`` is used.
265
266   Returns a tuple ``(distname,version,id)`` which defaults to the args given as
267   parameters.  ``id`` is the item in parentheses after the version number.  It
268   is usually the version codename.
269
270   .. deprecated-removed:: 3.5 3.8
271      See alternative like the `distro <https://pypi.org/project/distro>`_ package.
272
273.. function:: libc_ver(executable=sys.executable, lib='', version='', chunksize=16384)
274
275   Tries to determine the libc version against which the file executable (defaults
276   to the Python interpreter) is linked.  Returns a tuple of strings ``(lib,
277   version)`` which default to the given parameters in case the lookup fails.
278
279   Note that this function has intimate knowledge of how different libc versions
280   add symbols to the executable is probably only usable for executables compiled
281   using :program:`gcc`.
282
283   The file is read and scanned in chunks of *chunksize* bytes.
284
285