Some linux commands

1. How to check the version of a Linux OS

uname -a is a linux command that will output useful information about your linux distribution, kernel version, cpu information and more.

Example Output

Linux computerName 2.6.22.18-desktop-1mdv #1 SMP Mon Feb 11 13:53:50 EST 2008 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz GNU/Linux

2. To find out what version of Linux (distro) you are running, enter the following command at the shell prompt:

$ cat /etc/*-release

Output on RHEL 5

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5 (Tikanga)

Output on Ubuntu 7.10

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu

DISTRIB_RELEASE=7.10

DISTRIB_CODENAME=gutsy

DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 7.10"