How to know the distro of linux installed

pxumsgdxpcvjm · 03-02-2006, 08:29 AM

hi

I have linux installed on system and uname -a gives following o/p
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.9-5.ELsmp #1 SMP Wed Jan 5 19:30:39 EST 2005 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

now how do i know which linux distro is installed i mean red hat or dedian or what else?

Thanks

NB

win32sux · 03-02-2006, 11:27 AM

there's really no precise/effective way to do this with shell commands... but you can get a good idea by looking around the install yourself... your best bet is to ask the person who did the install...

Houseoffun · 03-02-2006, 11:57 AM

TO check debian or Redhat, try to install an rpm. Debian doesn't use these!

win32sux · 03-02-2006, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Houseoffun

TO check debian or Redhat, try to install an rpm. Debian doesn't use these!

ummm, yes it does...

RPM is the LSB standard package format, so any distro which wants to be LSB-compliant must include the RPM system...

Jaqui · 03-02-2006, 12:04 PM

OR start the xserver, since every distro has their own splash screen that should tell you which distro is installed.

also, during he boot sequence, unless it's hidden [ graphic boot ], there is often a distro logo being displayed.
the graphic style boot always has some distro centric image being displayed.
debian, lfs, gentoo being three that don't have a graphic boot with logo option.

Houseoffun · 03-02-2006, 04:53 PM

I try to stay clear of Debian for the moment becuase I find it quite different to things like Fedora, SuSE or Mandriva. I tried Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Knoppix and I found that RPMs are a pain.

wipe · 03-02-2006, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pxumsgdxpcvjm

uname -a gives following o/p
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.9-5.ELsmp #1 SMP Wed Jan 5 19:30:39 EST 2005 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Doesn't the EL in 2.6.9-5.ELsmp mean Enterprise Linux as in Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Some (many?) distros have a file in /etc that contains distro version information. On Fedora it's /etc/fedora-release - I'd imagine RHEL has redhat-release or something similar.

Simon

EDIT: Oh, I forgot, distros that are based on (= forked from) some other distro can have a kernel with the same name. And they might even have /etc/redhat-release (or whatever). Even though the filesystem looks like a Red Hat, it might be a White Box Linux, for example.

win32sux · 03-02-2006, 05:24 PM

yes, i quick google for that kernel name and build date shows it's likely a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 distro... so the /etc/redhat-release file should probably look like:

Code:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES release 4 (Nahant)

having said that, it's still all speculation - which might be enough in this case... to know for sure you'd have to do something like checksum all the files and compare them with the files in the RPMs for RHEL4...

epoo · 03-02-2006, 10:59 PM

try doing a ls of /etc... i know both rh and slackware have a file specific to each - in slackware i believe its /etc/slackware-version.

chrism01 · 03-02-2006, 11:18 PM

RH example:

cat /etc/issue
Fedora Core release 3 (Heidelberg)
Kernel \r on an \m

spooon · 03-02-2006, 11:23 PM

these will usually tell you:

Code:

cat /etc/*-version
cat /etc/*-release
cat /etc/issue