.. -*- coding: utf-8; -*-
.. include:: HEADER.rst

================
 Detect OS info
================
.. contents::
   :local:

uname
=====
::

  $ 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 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 info
===================

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

'lsb_release' command
=====================
::

  $ sudo apt-get install lsb-release

  $ lsb_release -s -i
  Debian

  $ lsb_release -s -c
  squeeze

  $ lsb_release -s -r
  6.0