As people keep stating how easy the change from sys.platform == 'linux2' to sys.platform.startswith('linux') is, e.g. msg142385, please also keep in mind cases like someDict.get(sys.platform) where the comparison is implicit and therefore a simple change to startswith won't do the trick. Seen that in the wild.

Besides that, I can only wholeheartedly agree to the points so eloquently described by Martin v. Löwis and James Y Knight. Thanks!

Let's please force it to 'linux2' for the next 2.7 and 3.2 releases, so people can use recent kernels without breaking (or having to rewrite) third-party apps. Let's also encourage distros to do the same for older releases, perhaps even suggesting patches.