[BUG] Detecting the camera tool names (aka libcamera tool renaming)

[raffaeler]

Describe the bug
This issue is relevant to anyone is using the libcamera apps programmatically inside scripts or libraries.
More specifically I refer to this issue: dotnet/iot#2371

What is the correct way to detect the presence of libcamera-* or rpicam-* tools?
Should we assume to use the new tool names from a certain OS version on?
Should we check instead the presence in a specific directory of the OS? Which one?
What is instead the command or API that can be used to correctly adopt the correct tool set?

TIA

[naushir]

Unfortunately there is no programmatic way via an API to detect the package names. rpicam-* has been the official name for Bookworm packages from the start. Would that be enough for you to hardcode in your usage?

[raffaeler]

@naushir thanks for the answer, but hardcoding is not possible because it would break backward compatibility.
The older Raspbian installations are still there and are using the libcamera* tools.
If we now change the hardcoded names of the tools to rpicam-*, a simple upgrade of the library would break the installation to a big crowd of people.

I should find a reliable way to inspect a settings (OS version?) and dynamically change the behavior at runtime.
Is there any official documentation about the tools included in each OS version?

Thanks