Index: trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/tools/PlatformHookUnixoid.java
===================================================================
--- trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/tools/PlatformHookUnixoid.java	(revision 5876)
+++ trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/tools/PlatformHookUnixoid.java	(revision 5877)
@@ -8,4 +8,5 @@
 import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
@@ -91,4 +92,5 @@
         if ("Linux".equalsIgnoreCase(osName)) {
             try {
+                // Try lsb_release (only available on LSB-compliant Linux systems, see https://www.linuxbase.org/lsb-cert/productdir.php?by_prod )
                 Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("lsb_release -ds");
                 BufferedReader input = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(p.getInputStream()));
@@ -103,8 +105,108 @@
                 }
             } catch (IOException e) {
-                e.printStackTrace();
+                // Non LSB-compliant Linux system. List of common fallback release files: http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Admin/release-files.html
+                for (LinuxReleaseInfo info : new LinuxReleaseInfo[]{
+                        new LinuxReleaseInfo("/etc/lsb-release", "DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION", "DISTRIB_ID", "DISTRIB_RELEASE"),
+                        new LinuxReleaseInfo("/etc/os-release", "PRETTY_NAME", "NAME", "VERSION"),
+                        new LinuxReleaseInfo("/etc/arch-release"),
+                        new LinuxReleaseInfo("/etc/debian_version", "Debian GNU/Linux "),
+                        new LinuxReleaseInfo("/etc/fedora-release"),
+                        new LinuxReleaseInfo("/etc/gentoo-release"),
+                        new LinuxReleaseInfo("/etc/redhat-release")
+                }) {
+                    String description = info.extractDescription();
+                    if (description != null && !description.isEmpty()) {
+                        return "Linux " + description;
+                    }
+                }
             }
         }
         return osName;
     }
+    
+    protected static class LinuxReleaseInfo {
+        private final String path;
+        private final String descriptionField;
+        private final String idField;
+        private final String releaseField;
+        private final boolean plainText;
+        private final String prefix;
+        
+        public LinuxReleaseInfo(String path, String descriptionField, String idField, String releaseField) {
+            this(path, descriptionField, idField, releaseField, false, null);
+        }
+
+        public LinuxReleaseInfo(String path) {
+            this(path, null, null, null, true, null);
+        }
+
+        public LinuxReleaseInfo(String path, String prefix) {
+            this(path, null, null, null, true, prefix);
+        }
+        
+        private LinuxReleaseInfo(String path, String descriptionField, String idField, String releaseField, boolean plainText, String prefix) {
+            this.path = path;
+            this.descriptionField = descriptionField;
+            this.idField = idField;
+            this.releaseField = releaseField;
+            this.plainText = plainText;
+            this.prefix = prefix;
+        }
+
+        @Override public String toString() {
+            return "ReleaseInfo [path=" + path + ", descriptionField=" + descriptionField + 
+                    ", idField=" + idField + ", releaseField=" + releaseField + "]";
+        }
+        
+        /**
+         * Extracts OS detailed information from a Linux release file (/etc/xxx-release)
+         * @return The OS detailed information, or {@code null}
+         */
+        public String extractDescription() {
+            String result = null;
+            if (path != null) {
+                File file = new File(path);
+                if (file.exists()) {
+                    BufferedReader reader = null;
+                    try {
+                        reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
+                        String id = null;
+                        String release = null;
+                        String line;
+                        while (result == null && (line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
+                            if (line.contains("=")) {
+                                String[] tokens = line.split("=");
+                                if (tokens.length >= 2) {
+                                    // Description, if available, contains exactly what we need
+                                    if (descriptionField != null && descriptionField.equalsIgnoreCase(tokens[0])) {
+                                        result = Utils.strip(tokens[1]);
+                                    } else if (idField != null && idField.equalsIgnoreCase(tokens[0])) {
+                                        id = Utils.strip(tokens[1]);
+                                    } else if (releaseField != null && releaseField.equalsIgnoreCase(tokens[0])) {
+                                        release = Utils.strip(tokens[1]);
+                                    }
+                                }
+                            } else if (plainText && !line.isEmpty()) {
+                                // Files composed of a single line
+                                result = Utils.strip(line);
+                            }
+                        }
+                        // If no description has been found, try to rebuild it with "id" + "release" (i.e. "name" + "version")
+                        if (result == null && id != null && release != null) {
+                            result = id + " " + release;
+                        }
+                    } catch (IOException e) {
+                        // Ignore
+                    } finally {
+                        Utils.close(reader);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            // Append prefix if any
+            if (result != null && !result.isEmpty() && prefix != null && !prefix.isEmpty()) {
+                result = prefix + result;
+            }
+            return result;
+        }
+    }
 }