diff -r 12bf7fc1ba76 Lib/platform.py
--- a/Lib/platform.py	Tue Oct 22 20:03:47 2013 +0100
+++ b/Lib/platform.py	Sat Nov 02 22:56:46 2013 +0200
@@ -243,6 +243,8 @@
 
     return distname,version,id
 
+_os_release_fields = re.compile(r'(?!#)(?P<key>.+)=(?P<quote>[\'\"]?)(?P<value>.+)(?P=quote)$')
+_os_release_unescape = re.compile(r'\\(?P<escaped>[\'\"\\])')
 _release_filename = re.compile(r'(\w+)[-_](release|version)', re.ASCII)
 _lsb_release_version = re.compile(r'(.+)'
                                    ' release '
@@ -253,10 +255,13 @@
                                '([\d.]+)'
                                '[^(]*(?:\((.+)\))?', re.ASCII)
 
+_UNIXCONFDIR = '/etc'
+
 # See also http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/11251.html
 # and http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Admin/release-files.html
 # and http://data.linux-ntfs.org/rpm/whichrpm
 # and http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man1/lsb_release.1.html
+# http://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/os-release.html
 
 _supported_dists = (
     'SuSE', 'debian', 'fedora', 'redhat', 'centos',
@@ -290,6 +295,20 @@
             id = l[1]
     return '', version, id
 
+def _parse_os_release():
+    try:
+        with open(os.path.join(_UNIXCONFDIR, 'os-release'), encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            info = {}
+            for line in f:
+                m = re.match(_os_release_fields, line)
+                if m is not None:
+                    key = m.group('key')
+                    value = re.sub(_os_release_unescape, r'\g<escaped>', m.group('value'))
+                    info[key] = value
+            return info
+    except OSError:
+        return None
+
 def linux_distribution(distname='', version='', id='',
 
                        supported_dists=_supported_dists,
@@ -297,9 +316,9 @@
 
     """ Tries to determine the name of the Linux OS distribution name.
 
-        The function first looks for a distribution release file in
-        /etc and then reverts to _dist_try_harder() in case no
-        suitable files are found.
+        The function first checks for an /etc/os-release file, then
+        looks for a distribution release file in /etc and then reverts
+        to _dist_try_harder() in case no suitable files are found.
 
         supported_dists may be given to define the set of Linux
         distributions to look for. It defaults to a list of currently
@@ -318,7 +337,18 @@
         etc = os.listdir('/etc')
     except OSError:
         # Probably not a Unix system
-        return distname,version,id
+        return distname, version, id
+
+    os_release_info = _parse_os_release()
+    if os_release_info is not None:
+        if 'NAME' in os_release_info:
+            distname = os_release_info['NAME']
+        if 'VERSION_ID' in os_release_info:
+            version = os_release_info['VERSION_ID']
+        if 'ID' in os_release_info:
+            id = os_release_info['ID']
+        return distname, version, id
+
     etc.sort()
     for file in etc:
         m = _release_filename.match(file)
diff -r 12bf7fc1ba76 Lib/test/test_platform.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_platform.py	Tue Oct 22 20:03:47 2013 +0100
+++ b/Lib/test/test_platform.py	Sat Nov 02 22:56:46 2013 +0200
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@
 import sys
 import unittest
 import warnings
+import tempfile
 
 from test import support
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 class PlatformTest(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_architecture(self):
@@ -263,6 +265,38 @@
             ):
             self.assertEqual(platform._parse_release_file(input), output)
 
+    def test_parse_os_release(self):
+        # various os-release contents and expected output
+        expected = {
+            'NAME=Fedora\nVERSION_ID="17"\nID=fedora': {
+                'NAME': 'Fedora',
+                'VERSION_ID': '17',
+                'ID': 'fedora'
+            },
+            'NAME="Aimée\\\'s "Distro""\nID=\'aiméesdistro\'\nVERSION_ID=1\n': {
+                'NAME': "Aimée's \"Distro\"",
+                'VERSION_ID': '1',
+                'ID': 'aiméesdistro'
+            },
+            'NAME="SchrödingerLinux"\n#Some comment here:)\n'
+            'ID=schrödingerlinux\nVERSION_ID=3.21\nPRETTY_NAME="SchrödingerOS"': {
+                'NAME': 'SchrödingerLinux',
+                'VERSION_ID': '3.21',
+                'ID': 'schrödingerlinux',
+                'PRETTY_NAME': 'SchrödingerOS'
+            }
+        }
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as d:
+            with patch('platform._UNIXCONFDIR', d):
+                # test that return value is None if /etc/os-release doesn't exist
+                self.assertEqual(platform._parse_os_release(), None)
+
+                # test behavior for inputs above
+                for input, output in expected.items():
+                    with open(os.path.join(d, 'os-release'), mode='w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+                        f.write(input)
+                    self.assertEqual(platform._parse_os_release(), output)
+
     def test_popen(self):
         mswindows = (sys.platform == "win32")