Command to find out the linux version. How to determine the Linux version. How to find out what Linux distribution and version you are running? How to see the kernel version. In Ubuntu Help

GNU/Linux has already found many fans and is becoming increasingly popular today. The number of distributions is growing rapidly, so you need to be able to understand which one is the most optimal. And this is fair, because Linux is a free graphical interface that rightfully enjoys the greatest success around the world. Often the user needs to know the version of Linux, for example, to install any programs compiled for certain versions. Their numbers are calculated in the form "Year.Month" (or "YY.MM"). Thus, these numbers indicate the release date of the distribution. Another important point is that each release must have its own codename, for example "Karmic" or "Lucid Lynx".

What actually is a kernel, what are the differences between these kernels, why do they need to be constantly developed and counted? The core is the central link of the system; it is very large in size, but it also contains an orderly and clear hierarchy of various levels. Its main components are: system calls (SCI), process management (PM), memory management (MM), as well as a virtual file system (VFS), a network stack and various device drivers. Finding out the version of Linux means also finding information about the kernel. For ordinary users who are not very knowledgeable in the field of working with software, it is extremely rare to deal with it, because not everyone will be able to cover all the important and subtle aspects of this software level. Versions differ in their interaction with hardware, drivers and operating speed. And everything that the user uses is only the surface shell and GNU applications (this prefix must be present before the Linux inscription in the system version).

The user can find out in various ways. For example, there is a utility "lsb_release" that can be used in conjunction with the -a switch. You must first log in and then type the command. It may not be possible to install it, then the program will have to be downloaded from the repository. After entering, the screen will show the name of the distribution and its version.

You can view the Linux version by typing "cat/etc/issue". After this, the following data should be displayed on the monitor: Debian GNU/Linux 6.0 \n \l or Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS \n \l.

The version of the kernel itself is found out using the specified function "uname -r", but if instead of the last prefix you write -a, then all the information on this command will be displayed.

Also, if it is impossible to log into the system, you can find out the Linux version by rebooting the system unit and find all the most necessary information in the download menu. This method is used to identify which distribution is being used.

Also stored in the /etc/lsb-release file. Therefore, to open it, enter the following command in the terminal: cat /etc/lsb-release. Also, on a Linux GUI system, you can find out the version from the user manual.

So, various systems of the Linux family, being quite complex, provide fairly simple and accessible methods for determining the distribution version and kernel number. There are several viewing options, both using a terminal and without it.

Linux is installed on the computer, just read this file: $ cat /etc/*release*
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=8.0
DISTRIB_CODENAME=hardy
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 8.0.2"

For Ubuntu and almost all Linux distributions built on Debian, use the command: $ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 8.0.2
Release: 8.0
Codename: hardy

Another way to determine the Linux version is to open konsole and log in as root. Next you need to run the command: cat /etc/issue.net The screen will display information about the Linux distribution, for example, Ubuntu 8.04.

Also, on some Linux distributions, you can find out about the operating system version in the help file. Select "System" from the Gnome panel and click on "About System". In the documentation that loads on the screen, the first welcome paragraph contains information about the installed OS and its version.

Sources:

how to find out what linux I have

The Linux operating system is an alternative to the popular Microsoft Windows operating system. This system is free and free to distribute; many users are already using it and have been able to appreciate its benefits.

You will need

- computer with Internet access;
- browser.

Instructions

Go to the free encyclopedia site Wikipedia http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux to read about the Linux OS. Go to the “History” section - the creation of this operating system and the stages of its development are described there. In the "Application" section you will learn about where this operating system is most often used. The section “Linux Distributions” contains a description of the different versions of this operating system. For example, the most common distribution at the moment is ubuntu. The site also has sections “Criticism”, “Security”, “Criticism from Microsoft”, links to other articles. Go to the appropriate section to find out information about Linux.

Go to the site http://forum.ubuntu.ru/. These are Russian-speaking users of Ubuntu - the most widespread Linux OS distribution. Select the “Installing and updating the system” section if you want to learn how to install this operating system. Open the “system distribution” section, find your region there and read the information about who you can get the disk with the operating system from. Visit the Hardware section to learn about Linux compatibility issues with various hardware, possible problems, and how to resolve them.

Go to the VKontakte website, go to the “Search” section at the top of the page. Enter linux and your region in the search field, select the “Groups” section in the field on the right and press Enter. Select the user group for this operating system. Go to the "Discussions" section to find out information you are interested in about Linux. If such a question is not here, create a new discussion and ask your question. After a while, go to this topic and look through it. Maybe you've already been answered. This is usually done quite quickly.

Linux is a modern, fast-growing operating system. It is highly stable and safe. Linux has flexible user management settings and extensive management capabilities from the console.

You will need

Computer with Linux operating system.

Instructions

All user accounts in Linux are stored in the text file /etc/passwd. Each line of the file contains information about one of the accounts. It contains 7 fields separated by colon:1. Login2. An unused field where the password hash was stored in older systems.3. User ID (uid).4. Primary group ID for the account (gid).5. Personal information about the user, for example, real name and contact numbers.6. Home directory location.7. Command shell.

By default, the /etc/passwd file is readable by any user. You can view entries in it through a text editor, using console utilities or a graphical interface.

User accounts differ by type: 1. User root, uid=0.2. System accounts.3, Regular users. For Red Hat based systems they have a uid starting from 500 or more, and for Debian based systems from 1000.

The /etc/passwd file does not sort accounts by type, so if you only want to list regular Linux users, use filters. For example, using this grep command you can get a list of only regular users for debian systems, filtering them by uid:cat /etc/passwd | grep -e "^[^:]*:[^:]*:(4,)"Or, adding the cut command to the pipeline, get only their logins and home directories: cat /etc/passwd | grep -e "^[^:]*:[^:]*:(4,)" | cut -d: -f1,6

In addition to the file itself and console utilities, you can get a list of users using graphical programs. For example, the KDE shell contains a configuration module called "User Management".

The top window of the module displays a list of accounts. By clicking on any of them, you will receive its description at the bottom of the window. By default, the module displays only regular users and root, but by checking the appropriate box below the list, you will also see system users.

When switching to the Linux operating system, the user wants files of all formats to which he is accustomed to be able to be viewed and sometimes edited in the new OS. In this case, the user is faced with the problem of determining an application to work with certain file formats.

Any operating system has special tools or methods that allow you to find out its version. Linux-based distributions were no exception. In this article we will talk about how to find out the Linux version.

Linux is just a kernel on the basis of which various distributions are developed. Sometimes it’s easy to get confused in their abundance, but knowing how to check the version of the kernel itself or the graphical shell, you can find out all the necessary information at any time. And there are many ways to check.

Method 1: Inxi

Inxi will help you collect all the information about the system in no time, but it is pre-installed only in Linux Mint. But it doesn’t matter, absolutely any user can install it from the official repository in a few seconds.

Installation of the utility and work with it will take place in "Terminal"- an analogue of the “Command Line” in Windows. Therefore, before starting to list all possible variations of checking system information using "Terminal", it’s worth making a remark and telling how to open this very "Terminal". To do this, press the key combination CTRL + ALT + T or search the system with a search query "Terminal"(without quotes).

Installation

Write the following command in "Terminal" and press Enter to install the Inxi utility:
sudo apt install inxi
After this, you will be asked to enter the password that you specified when installing the OS.

Note: When entering a password, the characters in "Terminal" are not displayed, so enter the required combination and press Enter, and the system will tell you whether you entered the password correctly or not.

During the download and installation process of Inxi, you will be required to give your consent by entering the symbol "D" and pressing Enter.

After clicking the line in "Terminal" will run up - this means that the installation process has begun. As a result, you need to wait for it to finish. You can determine this by your nickname and PC name that appears.

Version check

After installation, you can check your system information by entering the following command:

After this, the following information will be displayed on the screen:

Host - computer name;
Kernel - the kernel of the system and its capacity;
Desktop - graphical shell of the system and its version;
Distro - the name of the distribution and its version.

However, this is not all the information that the Inxi utility can provide. To find out all the information, enter the command:

As a result, absolutely all information will be displayed.

Method 2: Terminal

Unlike the method that will be discussed at the end, this has one undeniable advantage - the instructions are common to all distributions. However, if the user has just come from Windows and does not yet know what "Terminal", it will be difficult for him to adapt. But first things first.

If you need to determine the version of the installed Linux distribution, then there are many commands for this. The most popular of them will now be discussed.

These are not all, but only the most common commands for checking the Linux version, but they are more than enough to find out all the necessary information about the system.

Method 3: Special tool

This method is perfect for those users who have just begun to get acquainted with a Linux-based OS and are still wary of "Terminal", since it lacks a graphical interface. However, this method also has its drawbacks. So, using it you cannot find out all the details about the system at once.

So we found out the Linux version using the system’s graphical interface. It is worth repeating, saying that the arrangement of elements in different operating systems may vary, but the essence is one thing: find the system settings in which to open information about it.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are a lot of ways to find out the Linux version. There are both graphical tools for this, and utilities that do not have such “luxury”. What to use is up to you to decide. Only one thing is important - to get the desired result.

It often becomes necessary to determine the version of the Ubuntu distribution that is installed on your computer and the current version of the kernel. For example, this is required when installing some programs compiled for different versions of Ubuntu. In this post I will talk about several ways to determine the Ubuntu version.

How are Ubuntu versions numbered?

Ubuntu versions are numbered in the format Year.Month (YY.MM). The date indicates when the release was made. In addition to the numeric version, each version is assigned a code name. For example, Jaunty Jackalope or Lucid Lynx.

Determining the Ubuntu version from the command line

lsb_release command

The lsb_release command is designed to display information about the current version of the Ubuntu distribution. To obtain the required information, run lsb_release -a at the command prompt:

$ lsb_release -a Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 9.10 Release: 9.10 Codename: karmic

As you can see, we received a version (Release) and a code name (Codename).

File /etc/lsb-release

Also, information about the Ubuntu version is stored in the /etc/lsb-release file. To output the file, run cat /etc/lsb-release at the command line:

$ cat /etc/lsb-release DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu DISTRIB_RELEASE=9.10 DISTRIB_CODENAME=karmic DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 9.10"

File /etc/issue

Another easy way to determine the version is to look at the contents of the /etc/issue file, although the file itself serves a slightly different purpose. To do this, on the command line run:

$ cat /etc/issue Ubuntu 9.10 \n \l

Determining the Ubuntu version without using the command line

There are several easy ways to determine the version without using the command line.

In Ubuntu System Monitor

From the Gnome panel, go to System->Administration->System Monitor. A System Monitor window will open, the main tab of which will indicate the Ubuntu version and the current kernel version.

In Ubuntu Help

From the Gnome panel menu, go to System->About Ubuntu. The Ubuntu documentation will download. The main Help page will tell you which version you are using.

Determine the current kernel version

Above I wrote how you can determine the Ubuntu kernel version using System Monitor. You can also use the uname command to determine the kernel version. Run on the command line:

$ uname -r 2.6.31-20-generic

The -r option is used to display information about the kernel version. You can also display all the information provided by the uname command by running the command with the -a parameter:

$ uname -a Linux yuriy 2.6.31-20-generic #58-Ubuntu SMP Fri Mar 12 05:23:09 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux

If you need more information you can use various commands, although they may not work on every distribution, they definitely work on the most popular ones. Just as before, open a terminal and type the following:

Cat /etc/*release

You'll get something like the following screenshot, and you can see that not only is there release information, but we've also been given a codename and even a URL. What actually happened here is that on Mint there is a /etc/os-release file, but on other versions there might be something like /etc/redhat-release or a completely different name. By using * in the command, we simply output the contents of any of them to the console.

Different distributions have different release and update cycles. Different distributions install different drivers in their installers, meaning that depending on which distribution you use, you'll find that different hardware may or may not work out of the box. While you can often install other drivers with a little extra work, it's certainly no fun. If not, just know that you'll need to do a bit more work to get everything up and running the first time you install it.

The simplest method, of course, is the cat /etc/issue command, but the one we used is even better.

How to see the kernel version

The distribution version and the Linux kernel version are two completely different things. You can easily see the version number by opening a terminal and typing the following:

The output will be something like the following, where we can see that the kernel version is 3.13.0.

Photo by Garrett. The larger the community surrounding a distribution, the more likely you are to be able to get help, find documentation on a specific issue or piece of hardware, and otherwise get information. Take a look at the forums of your chosen distros and see which ones work for you. The better you can get from the community, the easier the transition to this distribution will be. While we highly recommend exploring beyond our humble list below, here are a few distributions that are incredibly popular and are great starting points for any search.

How to determine if a 64-bit kernel is being used or not

Sometimes the previous command can already tell whether a 64-bit kernel is used, this can be determined by the x86_64 text, but the easiest way to do it is a command from the terminal, which is exactly the same command as the previous one, but with -a(this is called a key), which means "everything", instead of a key -r, which means "kernel release".

How to see the kernel version

Note that most distributions have options that use different desktop environments, but we'll focus on the default environments for each. Some people love it, a lot of people hate it, but you can always if you want. Rarely will you have to create a program from source.

On other distributions you usually have to download them separately.

It's also completely community-driven, meaning you have support whenever you need help. Users are expected to update regularly and as soon as possible. This may lead to even more instability, but is great for those who always want the latest and greatest software on their system.

Its goal is to be as stable and bug-free as possible, which is a very good thing, but it means your system is rarely updated with the latest software.

From this screenshot you can tell that the x86_64 version of Linux is running, which means 64-bit. If you were running 32-bit Linux, which you shouldn't do on the server, it would display "i386" or "i686" instead.

Quibblers will probably notice that you can use the key -i to show whether 32-bit or 64-bit is being used (useful in scripts), but it's better to just use -a to display everything at once.

New releases are released every 1 - 3 years and the developer community can be a bit harsh for those not involved with them. It also supports a variety of processor architectures, which is great if you have a particularly old or unusual build. Its main design compared to other distributions is the configuration layer. This is not the ideal distro for your netbook.

All you have when installing is the command line, from which you create your desktop environment, drivers, preferred applications, and more. Essentially, you're creating your own super-customized distribution. It can be as minimal or as heavy as you like, and although it takes a lot of work, the end result is fantastic. Any version from 0 to 10 is ok. The file will be downloaded and the installation will begin opening it. Select "Command Prompt" from the search results. Open the file to launch the installation wizard.

The value for this variable is a semi-colon delimited list of file locations. Copy the location and add it to your path variable. Open a new command prompt and re-run the original command. If the location doesn't include a version number, ask for it. This command returns the version.

Options depending on distribution

The report contains a list of components that have changed and service packs that have been installed or removed. The version information command exists on all operating systems. Note. It must match the version of other products. There are several ways and means to create clarity here. The following list shows the corresponding version files or. Under the GUI you will usually find out quickly. For example, many programs in the Help - About dialog box provide not only information about the version of the program itself, but also the operating system used.

What actually is a kernel, what are the differences between these kernels, why do they need to be constantly developed and counted? The core is the central link of the system; it is very large in size, but it also contains an ordered and clear hierarchy of various levels. Its main components are: system calls (SCI), process management (PM), memory management (MM), as well as a virtual file system (VFS), a network stack and various device drivers. Finding out the version of Linux means also finding information about the kernel. For ordinary users who are not very knowledgeable in the field of working with software, it is extremely rare to deal with it, because not everyone will be able to cover all the important and subtle aspects of this software level. Versions differ in their interaction with hardware, drivers and operating speed. And everything that the user uses is only the surface shell and GNU applications (this prefix must be present before the Linux inscription in the system version).

How to find your operating system version

It works on the command line - but it's not as convenient. You can find the version using the kernel type, but that's much simpler. To check this, enter the following command. The first part of the command returns a lot of information about the embedded processor. Test different operating systems.

It can't hurt to have a virtual system either, whether it's an installation error or a system that doesn't suit you at all. The tests were carried out on their main system. Another problematic topic in this area. But a lot happened here. This is also pre-installed on steam engines. There are tools for the desktop as well as for that show data performance. What about system usage, network interface, CPU temperature and chipset? What equipment is in the system?

The user can find out the Linux version in various ways. For example, there is a utility "lsb_release" that can be used in conjunction with the -a switch. You must first log in and then type the command. It may not be possible to install it, then the program will have to be downloaded from the repository. After entering, the screen will show the name of the distribution and its version.

The question of how a system is populated and how it is reflected in the harshness of everyday life is not just a theoretical concern. A look at the equipment and its use shows where the needle may occur. Diagnostic logs of hard drives and system temperatures also provide insight into system health.

Desktop: Graphical System Monitors

The terminal provides many of the following hardware controls, as well as detailed hardware and text mode performance. On the top line, average usage is shown after time, runtime, and number of registered users.

You can view the Linux version by typing "cat/etc/issue". After this, the following data should be displayed on the monitor: Debian GNU/Linux 6.0 \n \l or Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS \n \l.

The version of the kernel itself is found out using the specified function "uname -r", but if instead of the last prefix you write -a, then all the information on this command will be displayed.

The number before "in use" indicates the memory in use. The bottom area, like the example above, populates a list of programs and processes that you can scroll through using the arrow keys. And a detailed list of categorized hardware is compiled.

Data carrier: employment and status

To analyze the contents of storage media, Disk Usage Analyzer provides an informative graphical representation of the file system. To select which partitions or directories to scan, Disk Usage Analyzer displays an overview of available volumes upon startup. To visualize the storage medium, there is not only a list ordered by size, but also a pie chart. This displays subdirectories from the selected directory in concentric circular sectors - up to five levels deep.

Also, if it is impossible to log into the system, you can find out the version of Linux by rebooting the system unit and find the entire version in the download menu. This method is used to identify which distribution is being used.

Information about the Linux system is also stored in the /etc/lsb-release file. Therefore, to open it, enter the following command in the terminal: cat /etc/lsb-release. Also, on a Linux GUI system, you can find out the version from the user manual.

Temperature: CPU and system

Depending on catalog space requirements, the circular sectors are wider or narrower, allowing you to quickly show where the big chunks lie. In the shell: directories and files are used to encrypt the command. The command displays the space requirement at the beginning of each line, ascending from the current directory. Here you will immediately see a complete layout of all connected storage media. Anyone who runs computer programs should monitor CPU temperatures to ensure better cooling when needed.