Index: Lib/platform.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/platform.py	(revision 66520)
+++ Lib/platform.py	(working copy)
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@
 
 __version__ = '1.0.4'
 
-import sys,string,os,re
+import subprocess,sys,string,os,re
 
 ### Platform specific APIs
 
@@ -217,13 +217,99 @@
 
     return distname,version,id
 
+_distributor_id_cmdline_re = re.compile("(?:Distributor ID:)\s*(.*)", re.I)
+_release_cmdline_re = re.compile("(?:Release:)\s*(.*)", re.I)
+_codename_cmdline_re = re.compile("(?:Codename:)\s*(.*)", re.I)
+
+_distributor_id_file_re = re.compile("(?:DISTRIB_ID\s*=)\s*(.*)", re.I)
+_release_file_re = re.compile("(?:DISTRIB_RELEASE\s*=)\s*(.*)", re.I)
+_codename_file_re = re.compile("(?:DISTRIB_CODENAME\s*=)\s*(.*)", re.I)
+
+def dist(distname='',version='',id=''):
+    """ Tries to determine the name of the Linux OS distribution name.
+
+    First, try to parse a file named "/etc/lsb-release".  If it exists, and
+    contains the "DISTRIB_ID=" line and the "DISTRIB_RELEASE=" line, then return
+    the strings parsed from that file.  The reason we try this first is because
+    it is faster than the official method of invoking "lsb_release" (which takes
+    half a second on my high-performance Athlon64 Ubuntu workstation).  Also
+    because some distributions (at least Debian/Ubuntu) have /etc/lsb-release in
+    the "base-files" package (Priority: required) but /usr/bin/lsb_release in
+    the "lsb-release" package (Priority: important), so it is possible that
+    /etc/lsb-release is there even if /usr/bin/lsb_release isn't.
+
+    If parsing /etc/lsb-release doesn't work, then try to execute "lsb_release",
+    as standardized in 2001:
+
+    http://refspecs.freestandards.org/LSB_1.0.0/gLSB/lsbrelease.html
+
+    The current version of the standard is here:
+
+    http://refspecs.freestandards.org/LSB_3.2.0/LSB-Core-generic/LSB-Core-generic/lsbrelease.html
+
+    If executing "lsb_release" raises no exception, and returns exit code 0, and
+    both the "distributor id" and "release" results are non-empty after being
+    stripped of whitespace, then return a two-tuple containing the information
+    that lsb_release emitted, as strings.
+
+    If that doesn't work, then invoke _dist_try_a_little_harder() and return
+    whatever it returns.
+
+    Returns a tuple (distname,version,id). Distname is what LSB calls a
+    "distributor id", e.g. "Ubuntu".  Version is what LSB calls a "release",
+    e.g. "8.04".  ID is what LSB calls a "codename", e.g. "hardy".
+    """
+    _distname = None
+    _version = None
+    _id = None
+
+    try:
+        etclsbrel = open("/etc/lsb-release", "rU")
+        for line in etclsbrel:
+            m = _distributor_id_file_re.search(line)
+            if m:
+                _distname = m.group(1).strip()
+            m = _release_file_re.search(line)
+            if m:
+                _version = m.group(1).strip()
+            m = _codename_file_re.search(line)
+            if m:
+                _id = m.group(1).strip()
+        if _distname and _version:
+            return (_distname, _version,_id)
+    except EnvironmentError:
+            pass
+
+    try:
+        p = subprocess.Popen(["lsb_release", "--all"], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+        rc = p.wait()
+        if rc == 0:
+            for line in p.stdout.readlines():
+                m = _distributor_id_cmdline_re.search(line)
+                if m:
+                    _distname = m.group(1).strip()
+                m = _release_cmdline_re.search(p.stdout.read())
+                if m:
+                    _version = m.group(1).strip()
+                m = _codename_cmdline_re.search(p.stdout.read())
+                if m:
+                    _id = m.group(1).strip()
+
+            if _distname and _version:
+                return (_distname, _version,_id)
+    except EnvironmentError:
+        pass
+
+    return _dist_try_a_little_harder(distname, version, id)
+
+
 _release_filename = re.compile(r'(\w+)[-_](release|version)')
 _release_version = re.compile(r'([\d.]+)[^(]*(?:\((.+)\))?')
 
 # Note:In supported_dists below we need 'fedora' before 'redhat' as in
 # Fedora redhat-release is a link to fedora-release.
 
-def dist(distname='',version='',id='',
+def _dist_try_a_little_harder(distname='',version='',id='',
 
          supported_dists=('SuSE', 'debian', 'fedora', 'redhat', 'mandrake')):