hi,
We have spent a lot of time working out how best to work the /etc/centos-release file in order to satisfy most use cases. We've had a lot of positive feedback on the three digit release numbering that went into the first CentOS-7 release. And in the coming months, as the rolling builds onramp we will start seeing movement around those. This will also help address some points learned from the community during the 7.0.1406 cycle.
We have also decided to split the /etc/redhat-release link to /etc/centos-release and use that as a way to better indicate what codebase the running CentOS Linux instance was derived from.
Examples of what these files will look like in say March 2015 ( if .1 is released upstream by then ):
------------------- /etc/centos-release: CentOS Linux release 7.1.1503 (Core)
/etc/redhat-release Derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 (Source)
-------------------
The /etc/os-release file remains unchaged to indicate CentOS-7 as being the distro being consumed. We will however, be adding ABRT specific content to the os-release file once we have bugs.centos.org setup to accept abrt requests - and we have the required patched rolled out into the distro. These additions will have no impact on numbering reported via tools that consume /etc/os-release.
The /etc/centos-release file will then evolve with every monthly release, with the updated file being pushed into updates repo. This implies if someone was to install from the March rolling build, their /etc/centos-release will already have 7.1.1503 and anyone having a previously installed machine, doing a yum update would see the same file drop in.
The net result is an impact for new people installing from rolling build media ( and instance media like live images, cloud images, containers etc ). One installed or running, there is no change to how CentOS Linux has been in the past. You just get regular updates, and any machine, regardless of how it was installed and when, updated to the same point in time will have identical content.
-- Karanbir Singh, Project Lead, The CentOS Project +44-207-0999389 | http://www.centos.org/ | twitter.com/CentOS GnuPG Key : http://www.karan.org/publickey.asc