I've answered my own questions, but I'm posting this for others and so that people with osso-software-version problems will have a thread to look in.

I've had a couple problems that have apparently been related to /etc/osso_software_version. One problem was fixed by my running Another time I was told I was probably missing etc/osso_software_version

First off, I have a file called osso-software-version; but it shows 0 bytes and when I open it in emelFM2's editor, it shows no content whatsoever. So,

(1) what should be in that file? More than nothing?

Yes, the file should contain one short line. In my case, with an N800 running Diablo, it's

RX-34+RX-44+RX-48_DIABLO_4.2008.23-14_PR_MR0

Also, some references in this forum seem to call it a folder and other references call it a file.

(2) Is it one or the other or both?

It's a file.

There are instructions here and there to install it, from root, with This command is specifically for the N800 -- see GeneralAntilles caution that osso-software-version-rx34 is for N800 and osso-software-version-rx44 is for N810. (See that post also with regard to "unlocked" versus "not unlocked.")

When I entered the apt-get command, however, XTerm responded, after "Building dependency tree" and "Reading state information,"

So,

(3) How do I install osso-software-version-rx34-unlocked?

Use

Code:

sudo gainroot
apt-get install osso-software-version-rx34-unlocked

but make sure you have (installed and) enabled the Application Catalogue "Maemo Extras-Devel"

See also pycage's Warning and N810 Wimax Edition info in post #3 here.