How do I check the operating system in Python?

The right tools for system introspection

Knowing your operating system (OS) is key when crafting portable, resilient code that plays well across diverse platforms. For most common tasks, platform.system() and sys.platform have got you covered. When you're venturing into advanced territory, however, you'll need potent tools and libraries designed for such circumstances.

Summon os.uname() to obtain a pool of system details:

import os
system_info = os.uname() # System details... Assemble!
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Bear in mind that os.uname() may not be at your disposal on every platform, specifically Windows. For Windows: think about harnessing the power of pywin32 or ctypes to dig into specific system APIs for deeper exploration.

Working with Unix-like systems? Call upon the Python System Information tools within the all-knowing platform module to gather an array of OS intricacies — from kernel goodness to the latest dance craze, the system architecture shuffle.

For a comprehensive solution, psutil provides a robust set of functions for system monitoring, offering you cross-platform insights. It's essentially arming your Python code with a sysadmin's multi-tool:

import psutil
system_stats = psutil.virtual_memory() # "I see dead processes!"
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Avoid shell commands such as os.system('uname -o') since they not only cater to specific platforms, but they also fail to return the output to your Python code; they're printer-hogs, only spitting out results to the console.

Going file and directory spelunking

When you're knee-deep manipulating files and directories, knowing your OS can assist with efficient path operations. Windows paths favor the lone backslash (\), while Unix and MacOS enjoy the sociable company of the forward slash (/). Python's os.path module can help smooth over these differences, even though OS-specific jiggery-pokery might creep in now and then.

Enter Python 3.4's pathlib module, providing a human-friendly, object-oriented interface to file system paths, making your job as a cross-platform Python code-poet that much easier!

Digging for OS-version treasures

Not all version differences are as harmless as swapping out Coke for Pepsi. Different OS versions could shift how your code behaves, touching areas like permissions, system calls, and even default encodings. Merely knowing your OS ilk often isn't enough; at times, the version can dictate entire stanzas of your code.

To hunt down the OS version, you might need to bring out the big guns with modules such as platform:

import platform
version = platform.version() # OS age, reveal thyself!
release = platform.release() # A little more wrinkle, please.
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Combine the OS name with its version and release info, and you've got a complete tabloid profile of your Python script's runtime environment.