python - Check Linux distribution name

Question

I have to get the Linux distribution name from a Python script. There is a dist method in the platform module:

import platform
platform.dist()

But under my Arch Linux it returns:

>>> platform.dist()
('', '', '')

Why? How can I get the name?

PS. I have to check whether the distribution is Debian-based.

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Update: I found here Python site, that dist() is deprecated since 2.6.

>>> platform.linux_distribution()
('', '', '')

Answer 1

Here's what I found:

platform.linux_distribution

Tries to determine the name of the Linux OS distribution name.

It says platform.dist is deprecated since 2.6, you have to use platform.linux_distribution in Python 2 (but it is also deprecated in Python 3.5).