How To Find Which Linux Kernel Version Is Installed On My System

I am a new proud Linux user. My question to you is – how do I check Linux Kernel version? How do I find my Linux Kernel Version installed on my PC? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Introduction : The Linux kernel is the central (core) component of Linux operating systems. Its responsibilities include managing the system’s resources and the communication between hardware and software components. It also maintains the security of your system. Hence, finding out the version information is a good idea for patching and other sysadmin management tasks.

Tutorial details
Difficulty level	Easy
Root privileges	No
Requirements	None
Est. reading time	1m

Commands to find your Linux Kernel Version

To check Linux Kernel version, try the following commands:

1. uname -r : Find Linux kernel version
2. cat /proc/version : Show Linux kernel version with help of a special file
3. hostnamectl | grep Kernel : For systemd based Linux distro you can use hotnamectl to display hostname and running Linux kernel version

Let us see all commands and examples in details.

How to check kernel version on Linux server/desktop/laptop

You need to use then uname command to print certain system information including kernel name. Type the following command to print kernel version number:
$ uname -r
Sample outputs:

4.15.0-39-generic

So my Linux kernel version is 4.15.0-39, where:

• 4 : Kernel version
• 15 : Major revision
• 0 : Minor revision
• 39 : Patch level or number
• generic : Linux distro/kernel specific additional info

Understanding uname command options

To print certain system information you use uname command. It has the following options:

-a, OR --all	print all information
-s, OR --kernel-name	print the kernel name
-n, OR --nodename	print the network node hostname
-r, OR --kernel-release	print the Linux kernel release
-v, OR --kernel-version	print the kernel version
-m, OR --machine	print the machine hardware name
-p, OR --processor	print the processor type or “unknown”
-i, OR --hardware-platform	print the hardware platform or “unknown”
-o, OR --operating-system	print the operating system

Find Linux kernel using /proc/version file

Another option is to type the following cat command:
$ cat /proc/version
Sample outputs:

Linux version 4.19.2 (vivek@nixcraft-asus.nixcraft.com) (gcc version 7.3.0 (Ubuntu 7.3.0-27ubuntu1~18.04)) #1 SMP Fri Nov 16 01:38:13 IST 2018

How to find your Linux Kernel version using hostnamect

Type the hostnamectl command along with grep command:
$ hostnamectl
$ hostnamectl | grep Kernel

Related media

This tutorial is also available in a quick video format:

Video 01: Find The Linux Kernel Version Command Tutorial

Conclusion

You learned three diffent commands to display and show Linux kernel version on screen. For more info see the following pages too:

• How to compile and install Linux Kernel from source code
• How do I Upgrade Linux kernel?
• Linux kernel source code here

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