Distro Information from Bash

shifty_eyes · 10-13-2005, 02:17 AM

Hi, I'm working on a superkaramba theme and I was wondering if there is a way to determine which specific distro a person is using. Is there maybe some obscure file or enviroment variable that holds this information? Or possibly a script that tries to guess based on the systems configuration floating around the internet?

Thanks

vharishankar · 10-13-2005, 02:37 AM

Code:

cat /proc/version

*should* give you some version-specific information. At least you should be able to parse the string that returns to get a clue or an idea.

teebones · 10-13-2005, 02:38 AM

And if above doesn't work (wich is hardly the case):

Most likely you will find a file in /etc, called something like "<distro>_version". Let your program search for such file, and cat the output. Though, i must add, that it's distro dependent. Some use another file for this.

Another way might be the uname -a command. This might give you some usefull info too.

reddazz · 10-13-2005, 02:51 AM

Code:

$cat /etc/DistroName-release

vharishankar · 10-13-2005, 05:16 AM

Code:

uname --operating-system

seems to give the string without all the extra information. It would be useful too.

shifty_eyes · 10-13-2005, 04:34 PM

Thanks for all the replies guys

On my box (Slackware 10.1) the most promising thing so far is the slackware-version file in /etc. Everything else just gives me GNU/Linux. I guess ill just write a script to grep around in /etc for simmiler files for the more mainstream distros, and if that dosnt work for someone i guess they'll just have to change the .theme file themselves. Isn't opensource great?

Thanks again

cs-cam · 10-13-2005, 07:31 PM

For Arch Linux, the file is /etc/arch-release

jrdioko · 10-13-2005, 08:18 PM

I'm using Slackware 10.0. Where does the uname information come from? (i.e. where is it set to say GNU/Linux?)