I must admit that I wasnt actually aware of platform module, which has been around since Python 2.3. Now the latest stable version in 3.3, well 3.3 - 2.3 = 1.0, not too late, am I?
A system monitor program called Glances shows me:
Gentoo Base System 2.1 64bit with Linux 3.5.7-gentoo-3 on dfed
At first, I thought it must parse the release file /etc/distro-name-release on its own, but it actually uses platform module.
import platform as p
for attr in (attr for attr in dir(p) if not attr.startswith('_')):
try:
print('{:21s} = {!r}'.format(attr, getattr(p, attr)()))
except:
passarchitecture = ('64bit', 'ELF')
dist = ('gentoo', '2.1', '')
java_ver = ('', '', ('', '', ''), ('', '', ''))
libc_ver = ('glibc', '2.2.5')
linux_distribution = ('Gentoo Base System', '2.1', '')
mac_ver = ('', ('', '', ''), '')
machine = 'x86_64'
node = 'dfed'
platform = 'Linux-3.5.7-gentoo-3-x86_64-Intel-R-_Core-TM-2_CPU_T5600_@_1.83GHz-with-gentoo-2.1'
processor = 'Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T5600 @ 1.83GHz'
python_branch = ''
python_build = ('default', 'Jun 12 2012 00:04:22')
python_compiler = 'GCC 4.5.3'
python_implementation = 'CPython'
python_revision = ''
python_version = '2.7.3'
python_version_tuple = ('2', '7', '3')
release = '3.5.7-gentoo-3'
system = 'Linux'
uname = ('Linux', 'dfed', '3.5.7-gentoo-3', '#3 SMP PREEMPT Tue Nov 20 00:20:28 CST 2012', 'x86_64', 'Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T5600 @ 1.83GHz')
version = '#3 SMP PREEMPT Tue Nov 20 00:20:28 CST 2012'
win32_ver = ('', '', '', '')
Before this, I would look into os.name, os.uname(), or sys.platform for operating systems information. sys.version_info for Python version information.