How do I know which distro I am running on?

[Kurt Wall]

Feigning erudition, Susan Macchia wrote:
% Hi all,
% 
% Does anyone know how I can find out which distro I am running on?  I can use
% uname to find the kernel and basic OS (i686-Linux vs. ia64-Linux, for example),
% but I need to know more than that because the same combinations can be found on
% a variety of distros.

Besides /etc/issue and friends, RPM-based distributions often install a
package that indicates what version of the distro is installed. Slackware
uses /etc/slackware-version:

$ cat /etc/slackware-version 
Slackware 8.1
$ 

I've no idea what Debian and its derivatives use.

Kurt
-- 
Hoare's Law of Large Problems:
	Inside every large problem is a small problem struggling to get
out.