> Debian :
> lsb_release -a
> Distributor ID:    Debian
> Description:    Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
> Release:    10
> Codename:    buster
> cat /etc/debian_version
> 10.7
> aptitude show base-files
> Package: base-files
> Version: 10.3+deb10u7
> Essential: yes
> State: installed
> ...
> Description: Debian base system miscellaneous files
> ...
> devuan :
> lsb_release -a
> No LSB modules are available.
> Distributor ID:    Debian
> Description:    Devuan GNU/Linux 3 (beowulf)
> Release:    3
> Codename:    beowulf
> cat /etc/debian_version
> 10.0
>
> While the system is up to date,
> debian_version is misleading.
> This is more a bug than a feature.
> It takes some digging to see that.
> The referencing to debian is not consistent.

I concur on this.

> Better the file /etc/debian_version is missing @devuan than it is wrong.

That, however, may be debatable (would potentially break things?).

Since Devuan only repackages the minimal subset possible of Debian
packages to free them from that systemd garbage, wouldn't it be possible
to stay relatively close to the upstream minor version? Maybe by the
means of automated grabn check & recompile an incremented patch version
whenever needed?
This could be automated in a compilation farm, such as Jenkins (since
GitLab's CD is not being used for the project).

Bernard (Beer) Rosset
https://rosset.net/