--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/determine-os.rst	Mon Dec 01 22:51:09 2008 +0200
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+-*- outline -*-
+
+* uname -a
+
+  $ uname -a
+  Linux poly.tech-recipes.com 2.6.5-1.358 #1 Sat May 8 09:04:50 EDT 2004 i686 i686 i386
+  GNU/Linux
+
+    kernel name:     Linux
+    hostname:        poly.tech-recipes.com
+    kernel release:  2.6.5-1.358
+    kernel version:  #1 Sat May 8 09:04:50 EDT 2004
+
+
+* Linux
+
+** osinfo command.
+
+You can use the osinfo command to determine which distribution you use.
+
+** Version files.
+
+See for file `/etc/<distroname>-version' or `/etc/<distroname>-release'.
+
+  $ cat determine-os.sh
+    #!/bin/sh
+    [ -e /etc/SuSE-release ] && echo This is a SuSE system.
+    [ -e /etc/redhat-release ] && echo This is a redhat system.
+    [ -e /etc/fedora-release ] && echo This is a fedora system.
+    [ -e /etc/debian-version ] && echo This is a debian system.
+    [ -e /etc/slackware-version ] && echo This is a slackware system.
+
+See also list:
+  Novell SuSE
+    /etc/SuSE-release
+  Red Hat
+    /etc/redhat-release, /etc/redhat_version
+  Fedora
+    /etc/fedora-release
+  Slackware
+    /etc/slackware-release, /etc/slackware-version
+  Debian
+    /etc/debian_release, /etc/debian_version,
+  Mandrake
+    /etc/mandrake-release
+  Yellow dog
+    /etc/yellowdog-release
+  Sun JDS
+    /etc/sun-release
+  Solaris/Sparc
+    /etc/release
+  Gentoo
+    /etc/gentoo-release
+
+** Kernel version information.
+
+Commonly, distributions will leave tags in the kernel version string to identify
+themselves. This can be found in the log files like /var/log/syslog or /var/log/messages.
+
+  $ cat /etc/issue
+
+or
+
+  $ cat /proc/version
+
+Even if you run a custom kernel, you might still get hints from the gcc version like this
+one line from /var/log/syslog:
+
+  Feb 20 05:54:07 sarge kernel: nf3 (root@sarge) (gcc version 3.4.4 20050314 (prerelease)
+  (Debian 3.4.3-13sarge1)) #1 PREEMPT Thu Nov 16 20:31:43 CET 2006