diff --git a/conf/explorer/os_version b/conf/explorer/os_version
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..5f7120c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conf/explorer/os_version
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# 2010-2011 Nico Schottelius (nico-cdist at schottelius.org)
+#
+# This file is part of cdist.
+#
+# cdist is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# cdist is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with cdist. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+#
+# All os variables are lower case
+#
+#
+
+case "$($__explorer/os)" in
+   archlinux)
+      # empty, but well...
+      cat /etc/arch-release
+   ;;
+   debian)
+      cat /etc/debian_version
+   ;;
+   fedora)
+      cat /etc/fedora-release
+   ;;
+   gentoo)
+      cat /etc/gentoo-release
+   ;;
+   macosx|*bsd|solaris)
+      uname -r
+   ;;
+   redhat)
+      cat /etc/redhat-release
+   ;;
+   suse)
+      cat /etc/SuSE-release
+   ;;
+   ubuntu)
+      lsb_release -sr
+   ;;
+esac
diff --git a/doc/dev/todo/TAKEME b/doc/dev/todo/TAKEME
index ad6561a6..3adf4561 100644
--- a/doc/dev/todo/TAKEME
+++ b/doc/dev/todo/TAKEME
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ CORE
 
 - probably remove or improve cdist-type-template
 
+
 TYPES
 ------
 - __ssh-keys (host/user)
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ DOCUMENTATION
 - asciidoc interprets __, which we use for variables
   names -> seek through docs and replace with \_\_!
 - check all all internal variables are prefixed with __cdist
+- reference explorers in cdist-reference!
 
 Cache:
    - add example how to use