topic Determining the distribution of the Linux operating system in Operating System - Linux

Determining the distribution of the Linux operating system

veena_ts — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:23:51 GMT

Hi all,

I am looking at a way to determine the Linux operating system version on RedHat and SuSE releases.

Is there a RedHat/Novell recommended file which we can lookup to find out the OS version, which is persistent and is not intended to be changed by the users?

I am currently using 'cat /proc/version' to find out if its RHEL or SLES and the contents of /etc/issue.net file to find the actual distribution.

Thanks,
Veena

Re: Determining the distribution of the Linux operating system

Michal Kapalka (mikap) — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:01:34 GMT

Hi,

on redhat :

/etc/redhat-release

for example :

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (Nahant Update 3)
-Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5 (Tikanga)
-Red Hat Linux Advanced Server release 2.1AS (Pensacola)
-Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (Nahant Update 4)

.....

on Suse :

/etc/SuSE-release

for example :

-SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 (x86_64)
VERSION = 10
-SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 (x86_64)
VERSION = 9
PATCHLEVEL = 3

mikap

Re: Determining the distribution of the Linux operating system

avizen9 — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:40:43 GMT

on redhat /etc/redhat-release file
on suse /etc/SuSE-release

you can also find out through uname -a the kernal version

Re: Determining the distribution of the Linux operating system

Steven E. Protter — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:51:35 GMT

Shalom,

I would use uname -a

That should give you enough information to determine the release.

SEP

Re: Determining the distribution of the Linux operating system

Mike Stroyan — Sat, 16 May 2009 21:02:00 GMT

A standards based solution can be found using the "lsb_release -d" or "lsb_release -i -r" command.
See "man lsb_release" or http://www.unixtutorial.org/commands/lsb_release/ for more information.

Re: Determining the distribution of the Linux operating system

Maaz — Sun, 17 May 2009 08:46:33 GMT

on SUSE Linux Enterprise you will find 'SPident' and 'SPident -vv'

'SPident -vv' informs you about every details, e.g your current OS Version and Level, and updates that has been installed etc.

Regards
Maaz