Introduction : You can use any one of the following command to display the FreeBSD operating system version and patch level
Unix commands to find out FreeBSD Version
- freebsd-version – Display the FreeBSD version and patch level of the installed system
- uname -mrs – Get information about the system including FreeBSD version
Let us see all commands in details.
How to find out FreeBSD version using freebsd-version command
The freebsd-version command appeared in FreeBSD version 10.0 and aboce. To see the FreeBSD server version and patch level of the installed kernel:
freebsd-version -k
To see the version and patch level of the installed userland:
freebsd-version -u
How to use freebsd-version command from Live CD
Boot from a live FreeBSD CD/DVD. To see a system being repaired using a live CD:
mount -rt ufs /dev/ada0p2 /mnt ## assuming it is ufs ##
env ROOT=/mnt /mnt/bin/freebsd-version -ku
How to find out if I am using 32 or 64 bit FreeBSD kernel
You can also use the following command to find out if FreeBSD kernel is running in 32bit or 64bit mode:
# getconf LONG_BIT
Sample outputs:
64
Display FreeBSD version using old good uname command
Type the following command (it works on all versions of FreeBSD):
umame -a
uname -mrs
Outputs:
FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE-p4 amd64
Understanding uname command options on FreeBSD
| -a | Behave as though the options -m, -n, -r, -s, and -v were specified. |
| -i | Display the kernel ident. |
| -K | Find the FreeBSD version of the kernel. |
| -m | Show the type of the current hardware platform. |
| -n | Write the name of the system to standard output. |
| -o | This is a synonym for the -s option, for compatibility with other systems. |
| -p | Find the type of the machine processor architecture to screen |
| -r | Get the current release level of the operating system. |
| -s | Find the name of the operating system implementation to monitor. |
| -U | Show the FreeBSD version of the user environment. |
| -v | Write the version level of this release of the operating system. |
Conclusion
This page showed you several ways to check kernel version and patch level in FreeBSD using the shell prompt. For more info see this page here and here.
- How To Find Out FreeBSD Version and Patch Level Number
- How To Find Which Linux Kernel Version Is Installed On My System
- Find Linux / UNIX Kernel Version Command
- How To Find Out If 32 or 64 bit Unix OS Installed On Server
- Linux: Find If Processor (CPU) is 64 bit / 32 bit [long mode ~ lm]
- List or Check Installed Linux Kernels
- Find Linux Kernel Version Command
- Linux Command: Show Linux Version
3 comment
Sometimes I search and don’t see much on the web; then I come across a site like this. You are a great asset to the IT community, Vivek Gite. Thanks!
There are typos in the commands..
freebsd-verion -k => freebsd-version -k
freebsd-verion -u => freebsd-version -u
Thanks for the heads up!