HowTo: Find Out My Linux Distribution Name and Version

by on October 25, 2007 · 45 comments· last updated at August 21, 2012

How do I find out what version of Linux distribution I'm using from the shell (bash) prompt?

To find out what version of Linux (distro) you are running, enter the following command at the shell prompt:
$ cat /etc/*-release
Sample output from my RHEL v5.x server:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5 (Tikanga)
Sample outputs from my Ubuntu Linux v7.10 server:

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=7.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=gutsy
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 7.10"

lsb_release Command

The lsb_release command displays certain LSB (Linux Standard Base) and distribution-specific information. Type the following command:
$ lsb_release -a
Sample outputs:

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Debian
Description:	Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.1 (squeeze)
Release:	6.0.1
Codename:	squeeze

How Do I Find Out My Kernel Version?

Type the following command:
$ uname -a
OR
$ uname -mrs
Sample outputs:

Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 x86_64

Where,

  1. Linux - Kernel name
  2. 2.6.32-5-amd64 - Kernel version number
  3. x86_64 - Machine hardware name (64 bit)

Say hello to /proc/version

Type the following command to see kernel version and gcc version used to build the same:
$ cat /proc/version
Sample outputs:

Linux version 3.2.0-0.bpo.1-amd64 (Debian 3.2.4-1~bpo60+1) (ben@decadent.org.uk) (gcc version 4.4.5 (Debian 4.4.5-8) ) #1 SMP Sat Feb 11 08:41:32 UTC 2012


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{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }

1 nitin November 4, 2007 at 4:07 pm

But how to find version of other unix systems like FreeBSD. cat /etc/*-release won’t give it

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2 vikash March 17, 2011 at 12:13 pm

Thanks for giving command cat /etc/*-release
Really this is useful

Thanks
Vikash

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3 al November 6, 2007 at 11:25 am

This isn’t exactly a general solution. It assumes the distribution supports some LSB stuff, I think.
For debian and slackware, one could try:

$ cat /etc/*version

On debian stable, lsb-release exists, but just isn’t in /etc/. There is an lsb-release package, and you can run:

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 4.0r1 (etch)
Release: 4.0r1
Codename: etch

By the way, lsb_release -a also works on the older Ubuntu version I have.

Reply

4 Richard Navarrete March 24, 2008 at 5:48 pm

You can also cat version in proc…


:; cd /proc
;; cat version
Linux version 2.6.9-42.0.3.ELsmp (brewbuilder@hs20-bc1-7.build.redhat.com) (gcc version 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-3)) #1 SMP Mon Sep 25 17:28:02 EDT 2006

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5 Kamal September 17, 2008 at 2:12 pm

Thanks Richard,
cat /proc/version worked for me..

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6 Dennisq Quek February 5, 2009 at 6:58 am

Thanks alot ! all commands gave some good info about my sys.

And “cat /etc/issue” as well, for my ubuntu 8

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7 starioshka_Prokol March 16, 2009 at 6:29 pm

thanx richy!!!it works

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8 scottavian October 12, 2009 at 11:04 pm

Thanks for the quick command. Worked perfectly.

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9 maxx January 22, 2010 at 3:45 am

hi guys,
can this kind of file which contains the version info be modified? for example when I want to remaster Ubuntu to new name with my name: Maxx

do we just to modify a file? or what should we do?

thanks in advance!

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10 gomathi January 22, 2010 at 6:07 am

hai ,
i read ur information for linux.but, i want “what r the different versions available in linux”.please give ans immediately

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11 rude_ass September 23, 2011 at 9:40 pm

would you also like a foot massage with that ??

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12 Elambarithi February 9, 2010 at 9:36 am

Please specify the which Linux ? Redhat or else….

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13 Daniel February 21, 2010 at 1:42 pm

Also try

uname -a

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14 Raj January 8, 2013 at 11:20 am

Thanks Daniel, that helped on FreeBSD

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15 Tibi April 9, 2010 at 8:09 am

Worked perfectly ;)

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16 jamos April 13, 2010 at 11:50 am

Hi Daniel, I think your solution will only give the hostname, Kernel, arhitecture etc, but NOT the “distribution name” as is quoted on the question. Havent checked on anyother distro, but at least thats what happens on my CentOS 5.4, the other solutions seem to work.


[root@myhostname ~]# uname -a
Linux myhostname.mydomanin.com 2.6.18-164.el5 #1 SMP Thu Sep 3 03:33:56 EDT 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Reply

17 takizo September 15, 2010 at 8:11 am

Thanks. Was digging few old linux machines and found this works. Running very old ubuntu ;)

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18 Pietro December 4, 2010 at 5:18 am

I’m on rhel .. if I type cat /etc/*release I get:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS release 4 (Nahant Update 3)

but if I type cat /proc/version I get:
Linux version 2.6.9-34.0.1.EL.ADSKsmp (root@oka) (gcc version 3.4.4 20050721 (Red Hat 3.4.4-2))

I’m confused :( so what’s my distribution??

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19 Vivek Gite December 4, 2010 at 12:14 pm

Your distribution is RHEL and your kernel version is 2.6.9-34.0.1.

Both are different.

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20 Roshan.Ahtina December 8, 2010 at 9:18 am

hi guys
please tyr
FOR UNIX:
#cat /etc/issue
#cat /etc/*-release
#cat /proc/version
#uname -a

FOR Debai/slackware:
#cat /etc/*version

Reply

21 tommed December 22, 2010 at 10:15 am

/etc/issue works for Debian too! I use something like this:

if [ "`cat /etc/issue | grep Debian | wc -l`" == "1" ]; then
    echo "is debian"
else
   cat /etc/issue # write out distro name

Reply

22 Bhaskar Rimmalapudi January 27, 2011 at 6:16 pm

This solution works perfect.

uname -a

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23 smarcell February 23, 2011 at 5:18 pm

Also try:

$ cat /etc/[A-Za-z]*[_-][rv]e[lr]*

Reply

24 R October 24, 2012 at 1:47 pm

Hi!

Nice example!
Anyhow I can not see why needed the [A-Za-z] part. Please let me know.
So here are the roots of a brand new all platformer ver.sh one-liner…. B-)

cd /etc && cat *_ver* *-rel* /proc/version && uname -a && lsb_release -a

Let us know what does it miss?? (I know – this must be considered as pre-alpha version. B-) some file and command availability should be implemented…)

…. OK – sorry for the OT-like summary here.

R

Reply

25 ravi March 29, 2011 at 4:22 am

thnx… helps lot

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26 Bryce H. April 17, 2011 at 10:05 am

I typed this in and it worked: cat /proc/version

And this came up : Linux version 2.6.34houkouonchi-web100-ioat-vlan (root@houkouonchi) (gcc version 4.1.2 (Gentoo 4.1.2)) #1 SMP Thu Oct 14 16:27:09 PDT 2010

What distro would this be??? I am running my linux through a data center that I have access to.

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27 Bryce H. April 17, 2011 at 10:06 am

Oh it would be Gentoo. THANKS! answered my own question =P

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28 sams April 18, 2011 at 11:51 am

thank u .. it works

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29 cm_R July 30, 2011 at 4:31 pm

smarcell – you are so clever. I am in awe.

but when I type that into the little white box thing, it just says “cat /etc/lsb-release.d: Is a directory”

and I still have no idea what my OS is ;-P

more seriously:

maxx – no you don’t want to change these files or try; what you want to do is something like (just an e.g.) in

/etc/rc.local
#!/bin/sh
#other stuff will be here probably, put your stuff at the end

echo “Hello, you’ve just successfully gained access to Maxx’s computer” > /etc/motd
cat /proc/version >> /etc/motd
echo `uname -a` >> /etc/motd

and so on. you are printing text and the output of programs to the file /etc/motd using shell syntax (the little backticks mean “interpret as a command to run” and echo means “print this” and > means “create a file and send this to it” and “>> means append this to the end of this file”

generally, motd will be printed on login (“message of the day”, quite old school, some systems might not have it I guess. My Scientific Linux 6.1 does. I think ubuntu does. maybe not.)

if not, you can make it yourself and have it in everyone’s .bashrc by editing /etc/skel. For that matter you can put anything you want in .bashrc or .profile and it will run whevever a shell is opened (a bash shell obviously).

/proc isn’t usually somewhere you want to write, unless you know why you are doing it.

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30 prasanna September 5, 2011 at 5:45 am

please send me linux versions and release dates

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31 jp September 20, 2011 at 12:15 pm

hi

thank you for cat /etc/*-release
and lsb_release -a
very helpful

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32 Betta September 26, 2011 at 9:58 am

Thanks a ton…
lsb_release -a suited my requirements!

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33 Carlos Santos January 24, 2012 at 2:50 pm

Thanks :)

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34 greg April 10, 2012 at 7:06 am

Same problem on Centos 5.6.

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35 Landis April 25, 2012 at 4:24 am

Thank you all! Спасибо,
You’d think ‘displaying kernel version number’ would be a simple, everyday command to find… I’m sure most of you know, that is not true. I search and check a hundred pages before finding this article. I should have now to check nixCraft (cyberciti) first or at lest in the top 5 sites..

Learning.
Thanks again.
Landis.

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36 Mallesh May 26, 2012 at 9:37 am

Thanks Dear….. It helps me lot

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37 Ali September 11, 2012 at 2:21 pm

thanx a lot

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38 ice October 8, 2012 at 8:03 am

thank you!
It nice!

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39 santosh October 8, 2012 at 11:53 am

I wish to update my linux distro…can you post the commands please..

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40 snehal October 9, 2012 at 12:07 pm

i have linux RH 5, it shows kernal version some 2.6 and server version also 2.6
so which is my linux version or how can i check it..

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41 Sinclair J. October 25, 2012 at 7:53 pm

Thanks :)

lsb_release -a => this command not work for me.
Which linux distribution support this command.
currently I have centOS

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42 Matt F. November 23, 2012 at 10:06 am

lsb_release isn’t installed on CentOS by default. just install it.

yum install lsb
lsb_release_a

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43 bc November 5, 2012 at 2:17 pm

command not found

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44 hottetdf March 13, 2013 at 10:44 am

hi folks,

just fell into this thread, verified it and … got confused.
Well, my CentOS just updated from 6.3 to 6.4. Everything I verified showed up 6.4, except /etc/issue, which still contains 6.3. So my conclusion is, that this file is created at install time and may be left untouched by updates. And yes, /etc/issue can safely be ‘personalized’, ‘taylored’ or whatever you like to call such customizing.

So far just my few cents.

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45 Steve April 26, 2013 at 3:01 pm

Useful info, easy to understand, thanks!

Reply

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