How can I identify the variant of Unix/Linux from a shell?

Question

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How can I get distribution name and version number in a simple shell script?

Given a shell, how can I identify the variant of Unix/Linux that is running on a remote server?

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 03 '12 at 11:31

6

you can also do cat /etc/*-release to see info about the distribution version and name.

$ cat /etc/*-release
DISTRIB_ID=LinuxMint
DISTRIB_RELEASE=12
DISTRIB_CODENAME=lisa
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint 12 Lisa"

answered Oct 03 '12 at 11:31

fromnaboo

I think cat /etc/-release is better. Some distros (Crunchbang is an example) has longer file names. – some user Oct 03 '12 at 16:19

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 03 '12 at 11:21

3

Have you tried either of the following:

uname -a

or

cat /proc/version

answered Oct 03 '12 at 11:21

Mountainerd

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 03 '12 at 12:57

2

You can try :

cat /etc/issue

Maybe not all distro have this file.

answered Oct 03 '12 at 12:57

Gilles Quénot

1

Or it may be confusing on others. Ubuntu's will say something like "wheezy/sid" since they do not change this file when they sync Debian unstable. – jordanm Oct 03 '12 at 14:32

3 Answers3