Ubuntu Linux has shipped /etc/debian_version that is carried over from upstream Debian and in turn just indicating the Debian Sid development version from which the packages are arrived. Besides it being inaccurate, /etc/os-release has been the long preferred standard for reading the OS release information. Thus finally Ubuntu developers are looking at dropping the /etc/debian_version file.

Ubuntu dropping /etc/debian_version would be a long time coming. Going all the way back to 2005 was [1]this bug report raising the issue of /etc/debian_version being inaccurate on Ubuntu and potentially confusing user-space tooling relying on that file. Yet over the past 20+ years it has remained with the recommendation tools just rely instead on lsb_release or /etc/os-release .

[2]

Finally now Ubuntu developer Benjamin Drung is [3]looking to take action on removing /etc/debian_version moving forward. Hopefully this historical artifact will finally be removed in 2026 with Ubuntu 26.10.



[1] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/base-files/+bug/19353

[2] https://www.phoronix.com/image-viewer.php?id=2026&image=ubuntu_debian_version_lrg

[3] https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2026-July/043633.html