Determing Linux Version

jwiencek · 07-31-2007, 09:45 AM

Hello.

I have a newbie dumb question. If I issue the command uname -a the returned info is this:

Linux xxx.xxx.com 2.6.9-55.ELsmp #1 SMP Fri Apr 20 17:03:35 EDT 2007 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

I'm told this is version 4 of Linux. How do you decipher that from the info returned?

monsm · 07-31-2007, 10:02 AM

Well, Linux as such doesn't have versions in that sense. The kernel has versions, and your kernel version is 2.6.9-55

Which distribution are you running? Distributions also have versions. Personally I am running Fedora 7 (i.e. Fedora Linux version 7).

pwc101 · 07-31-2007, 10:04 AM

It looks like you're running Red Hat Enterprise Linux (the EL in 2.6.9-55.ELsmp is the give-away). For the Red Hats, you can type

Code:

cat /etc/redhat-release

into a terminal and it'll tell you what version of Red Hat you're running.

Kaamos · 07-31-2007, 10:09 AM

Mmmm ... I think you're probably running RHEL 4 or maybe 5.

brianmcgee · 07-31-2007, 11:21 AM

RHEL 4 U5

As posted above it can be determinded by the kernel version.

jwiencek · 07-31-2007, 11:57 AM

Thank you for your help. It is appreciated.

beatupbilly · 07-31-2007, 12:36 PM

Yes it could be Redhat OR a Redhat based distro built from source.