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Old 04-02-2011, 07:40 PM   #1
chynna
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kind of LINUX


i would like to ask, HOW will i know what kind of LINUX operating system i am using.
where can i see it?
example "debian, fedora, ubunto"

i can't do much, as some software require knowing what kind.

thank you very much.
 
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Old 04-02-2011, 07:47 PM   #2
unSpawn
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At the CLI 'uname -a' might show a clue as would 'cat /etc/*release*' or 'lsb_release -a' if available.
 
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Old 04-02-2011, 08:33 PM   #3
PTrenholme
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Note that CLI means "Command Line Interface," which is what you can see when you open a "terminal" application from, usually, the "System" menu item, or, for some systems, when you "right click" on the screen.

Almost every distribution will announce its name when you first boot the system. Perhaps your attention was distracted while your system was booting, and you missed the message.
 
Old 04-03-2011, 03:23 AM   #4
salasi
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PTrenholme View Post
Almost every distribution will announce its name ...
...and, as a consequence of this, if you type 'dmesg' into a terminal, it will (usually? always?) appear early in the list of messages that are printed out. If even this overfills your terminal buffer, you could try:
Code:
dmesg | grep -i version
which really ought to work on just about any distro (but is likely to report a few lines from other drivers which also report a version during initialisation).
 
Old 04-03-2011, 04:39 AM   #5
Aquarius_Girl
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or cat /etc/issue
 
Old 04-03-2011, 04:45 AM   #6
repo
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Try
Code:
cat /etc/[A-Za-z]*[_-][rv]e[lr]*
Kind regards
 
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Old 04-03-2011, 06:16 AM   #7
unSpawn
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Quote:
Originally Posted by salasi View Post
Code:
dmesg | grep -i version
The buffer gets updated quickly so this works only right after (re)boot.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Anisha Kaul View Post
or cat /etc/issue
/etc/issue.* are more dynamic than what uname, /etc/*release* or lsb_release return and may be replaced on hosts that need to comply with certain regulations.


Quote:
Originally Posted by repo View Post
Code:
cat /etc/[A-Za-z]*[_-][rv]e[lr]*
Way minor nit: errors wrt encountering directories may confuse some so:
Code:
cat /etc/[A-Za-z]*[_-][rv]e[lr]* 2>/dev/null
 
Old 04-03-2011, 07:04 AM   #8
Aquarius_Girl
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Quote:
Originally Posted by unSpawn View Post
/etc/issue.* are more dynamic than what uname, /etc/*release* or lsb_release return and may be replaced on hosts that need to comply with certain regulations.
That was informative, thanks, but the following didn't work on Slackware 13.1 from root and uname doesn't return the "distribution name".
Code:
12:01:36 Sun Apr 03 root ~  cat /etc/*release* 
cat: /etc/*release*: No such file or directory
12:01:41 Sun Apr 03 root ~  lsb_release
bash: lsb_release: command not found
 
Old 04-03-2011, 07:43 AM   #9
brianL
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For Slackware:
Code:
bash-4.1$ cat /etc/slackware-version
Slackware 13.1.0
Slack doesn't conform to the LSB.

Last edited by brianL; 04-03-2011 at 07:44 AM.
 
Old 04-03-2011, 07:45 AM   #10
repo
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Or
Code:
cat /etc/[A-Za-z]*[_-][rv]e[lr]* 2>/dev/null
Kind regards
 
Old 04-03-2011, 07:48 AM   #11
unSpawn
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Anisha Kaul View Post
That was informative, thanks, but the following didn't work on Slackware 13.1 from root and uname doesn't return the "distribution name".
OK, how about
Code:
cat /etc/*{release,version,VERSION,Version}
? If you want something all-encompassing see rkh_dat_get_os_info() (starting at line 5198).
 
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Old 04-03-2011, 07:51 AM   #12
Aquarius_Girl
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Quote:
Originally Posted by unSpawn View Post
OK, how about
Code:
cat /etc/*{release,version,VERSION,Version}
?
A part of that worked
Code:
12:49:46 Sun Apr 03 root ~  cat /etc/*{release,version,VERSION,Version}
cat: /etc/*release: No such file or directory
Slackware 13.1.0
cat: /etc/*VERSION: No such file or directory
cat: /etc/*Version: No such file or directory
12:50:28 Sun Apr 03 root ~
Thanks for the link, I'll take a look.
 
Old 04-04-2011, 05:44 PM   #13
unSpawn
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Anisha Kaul View Post
A part of that worked
own medicine :-p
Code:
cat /etc/*{release,version,VERSION,Version} 2>/dev/null
 
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Old 04-04-2011, 11:45 PM   #14
Aquarius_Girl
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Quote:
Originally Posted by unSpawn View Post
own medicine :-p
That was beautiful:
Code:
[10:21:14 Tue Apr 05]
~/junk cat /etc/*{release,version,VERSION,Version} 2>/dev/null
openSUSE 11.2 (x86_64)
VERSION = 11.2
What was 2 doing there, BTW? If this is an RTFM question, then don't bother yourself.
 
Old 04-05-2011, 12:43 AM   #15
chrism01
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Unix std:

stdin = 0
stdout = 1
stderr = 2

 
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