Hi,
I want to check whether the kernel is 32 bit or 64 bit in linux?

I tried the following:-
root@kd-killer-1:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 15
model : 2
model name : Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.40GHz
stepping : 7
cpu MHz : 2393.298
cache size : 512 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 1
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe cid xtpr
bogomips : 4790.00

root@kd-killer-1:/# uname -m
i686

I am not getting the info from the above commands and also not able to use getconf command..It is throwing errors 'commands not found'. And doing a file <exe> is also not a good idea..

Any suggestion? Its urgent guys

cheers-
kd

Try:

.

If /usr/lib64 is not there, the kernel is probably not 64-bit, unless you copied it from a 64-bit to 32-bit machine. There are other ways to check when making a kernel, but it has been a while since I did that on 32-bit.

*
' uname -a ' ?

....

EDIT, sorry 'uname -m' already told : 'i686'

....

I dont think 'uname -a' will help!!!
it can't provode me the info whether 32 or 64 bit. I chked uname -m.

Any suggestions? which I can use to get the info/

dchmelik, infact /usr/lib64 is not there in my 64 bit system.
any standard command?

uname -a would tell you and uname -m DID tell you.

You have a 32 bit kernel. i686 is one of the indicators from uname (probably the most common) that you have a 32 bit kernel.
If you had a 64bit kernel that would say x86_64. There is much less variety in the reporting of 64 bit x86 kernels. They should all be "x86_64", while 32 bit x86 kernels might be i686 or various other things containing "86" and not containing "86_64".

If you didn't truncate the output of the flags line from cat /proc/cpuinfo, that also tells you that you have a 32-bit kernel. It could not tell you if you had a 64-bit kernel, because it only tells you whether your CPU is able to run a 64-bit kernel, which could be true even when running 32-bit. But your flags line says your CPU is not able to run a 64-bit kernel, so that indicates the running kernel must be 32-bit.

That is what I suspected, as well as perhaps '-i,' but what about a 32-bit OS, like Slackware, on a 64-bit system? In that example you can choose x86_64 processors, but will uname -i or -m or -p really show i386/etc. then? Now I mostly use Slamd64, so it -i, -m, -p show the same thing, but I noticed uname has some kernel info switches, so I assume what you told kauuttt is right.

In that case, uname will show you that you have a 32-bit kernel. Nothing in the uname output will say x86_64.
cat /proc/cpuinfo would tell you if you have a 64-bit capable CPU.

I assume so too, because I've tried these commands on at least a dozen systems with varied hardware and varied version of Linux, plus I've read what others have posted in many previous threads discussing exactly this same question.

thnks a lot guys !!
Infact i have 32 bit application installed on 64 bit procecure. Now I am able to distinguish from them. /proc/cpuinfo contents proved helpfull. thanks guys for making me more knowledgeable

The info you put in the first post looks like a 32 bit kernel installed on a 32 bit processor.

What do you see in /proc/cpuinfo that makes you think your processor is 64 bit?

Yeah you are right !!
The logs which I provided is related to 32 bit application on 32 bit processor. I have a other system (64 bit procecure), where I checked.

To FIND whether OS (kernel) is 32 or 64 bit
============================================
Method 1:
$ uname -a
x86_64,ia64 indicates 64 bit OS ; rest all [i386/i486/i586/i686] are indicate 32 bit

Method 2:

$ file /usr/bin/initdb
ELF 32-bit LSB executable : means 32 bit
ELF 64-bit LSB executable : means 64 bit

To FIND processor is 32 or 64 bit
====================================
$ grep flags /proc/cpuinfo
If there is "lm" flag, then the processor is 64-bit, else 32