platform.py

platform.py collects machine, OS, and Python runtime facts into a single portable API. Most results are cached on first call.

Map

Lines	Symbol	Role
1–60	module header, imports	stdlib imports, `_UNIXCONFDIR` constant
61–120	`_platform_cache`	module-level dict caching expensive calls
121–200	`uname()`	wraps `os.uname` / `platform.uname` into a named tuple
201–260	`system()` `node()` `release()` `version()` `machine()` `processor()`	thin accessors over `uname()` fields
261–340	`platform()`	assembles the human-readable platform string
341–430	`mac_ver()`	parses `sw_vers` output on macOS
431–510	`win32_ver()`	reads Windows version from the registry
511–600	`freedesktop_os_release()`	parses `/etc/os-release` on Linux
601–700	`python_version()` `python_version_tuple()`	exposes `sys.version_info`
701–760	`python_implementation()`	returns `sys.implementation.name`
761–900	`architecture()` `java_ver()` `system_alias()`	misc platform probes

Reading

uname and the field accessors

uname() is the central call. Every single-field accessor delegates to it and pulls one attribute from the named tuple.

# CPython: Lib/platform.py:206 system
def system():
    return uname().system

uname() itself tries os.uname() and falls back gracefully on Windows where that call is absent:

# CPython: Lib/platform.py:160 uname
def uname():
    global _uname_cache
    if _uname_cache is not None:
        return _uname_cache
    ...
    try:
        system, node, release, version, machine, processor = \
            os.uname()
    except AttributeError:
        ...

platform() string assembly

platform() concatenates the most useful fields and optionally appends the processor name. The result is stored in _platform_cache.

# CPython: Lib/platform.py:276 platform
def platform(aliased=False, terse=False):
    result = _platform_cache.get((aliased, terse), None)
    if result is not None:
        return result
    ...
    _platform_cache[(aliased, terse)] = result
    return result

freedesktop_os_release on Linux

On Linux, freedesktop_os_release() opens /etc/os-release (falling back to /usr/lib/os-release) and returns a plain dict of key-value pairs. The parser strips shell-style quoting.

# CPython: Lib/platform.py:543 freedesktop_os_release
def freedesktop_os_release():
    for candidate in ("/etc/os-release", "/usr/lib/os-release"):
        try:
            with open(candidate, encoding="utf-8") as f:
                return _parse_os_release(f)
        except OSError:
            pass
    raise OSError("...")

mac_ver

mac_ver() shells out to sw_vers and parses its output. A cached result is returned on repeated calls.

# CPython: Lib/platform.py:370 mac_ver
def mac_ver(release='', versioninfo=('', '', ''), machine=''):
    ...
    try:
        info = subprocess.check_output(['sw_vers'], text=True)
    except OSError:
        return release, versioninfo, machine
    ...

gopy notes

uname() maps directly to syscall.Uname (Linux) or syscall.Sysctl variants (macOS). Cache with a sync.Once.
freedesktop_os_release() can be ported as a plain file parser; no C dependency.
win32_ver() reads the Windows registry; skip or stub for non-Windows builds via a build tag.
_platform_cache should use a sync.Map or a mutex-guarded map keyed on the (aliased, terse) pair.
python_version() and python_implementation() have no direct counterpart; expose gopy's own version constants instead.

CPython 3.14 changes

linux_distribution() was removed in 3.8; it does not appear in 3.14.
uname_result became a proper typing.NamedTuple subclass with default values, making all fields optional for callers that construct it directly.
freedesktop_os_release() gained stricter quote-stripping to match the os-release spec more closely.
No new functions were added between 3.13 and 3.14 for this module.

Map​

Reading​

uname and the field accessors​

platform() string assembly​

freedesktop_os_release on Linux​

mac_ver​

gopy notes​

CPython 3.14 changes​

Map