How to check linux version

How to check Linux Version? [Linux Kernel Version Command]

Are you working with Linux OS and Would like to know that How to check linux version, Also What Linux version Command you should use to find the latest version on which you are running your system.

List of content you will read in this article:

Linux is a free and open-source operating system widely used as an alternative to Microsoft and Apple’s macOS [Mac operating system]. But Linux is a kernel that is considered the core component of the operating system and acts as a bridge between software applications and hardware. Are you looking to know how to check Linux version that you are using in your system or what Linux version command we can use to find Linux OS version? Then this article will guide you on how to do that.

What is Linux OS?

A Linux OS is built on the Linux kernel, GNU tools, and libraries. Many developers are using Linux for building and running mobile applications. Linux has played an essential role in developing affordable devices like Chromebooks that help to run the OS on the kernel. You can use Linux within the cloud computing and server environments due to various reasons, as mentioned below:

History of Linux

After introducing UNIX in 1969, Richard Stallman was inspired to create a non-proprietary alternative to UNIX. He started working on the GNU project while working at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. In 1984, he left the laboratory work for distributing the GNU components as free software. The GNU kernel, also known as the GNU HURD, had gained the Free Software Foundation’s focus. FSF was founded and headed in 1985 by Stallman.

Another developer, Linus Torvalds, an undergraduate from Finnish, worked on the free alternative to UNIX. After he fed up with the licensing for MINIX, In 1991, he announced that he was working on an operating system resembling MINIX. Initially, he developed on MINIX using a C compiler. Linux has become a unique project with some developers who released Linux kernel version 1.0 with Torvalds in 1994.

Torvalds used GNU code and a C compiler from GNU; his kernel and many Linux distributions are built on the GNU components. Later Stallman expanded the term Linux to GNU/Linux as it describes both the role of the GNU involvement in the development of the Linux and the in-depth concept of fostering the GNU project Linux kernel. Even today, Linux distributions indicate the presence of both the Linux kernel and GNU elements.

Key Features of Linux Operating System

Though the Linux kernel has taken many concepts, features, and properties from Unix, you can still differ Linux system from the earlier UNIX system in the following ways:

Linux Distributions

By 2020, there are more than 500 unique Linux distributions. The most popular and commonly used distributions are Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Linux Mint, SUSE, etc. If we consider the family tree of Ubuntu, it contains more than 65 software applications alone.

Below are some commonly used Linux distributions and the cases where they are used.

Distribution

Why Use

It mostly works as a Mac operating system and is easy to use.

How to Find Out What Version of Linux You Are Running

There are several ways of knowing the version of Linux you are running on your machine as well as your distribution name and kernel version plus some extra information that you may probably want to have in mind or at your fingertips.

Therefore, in this simple yet important guide for new Linux users, I will show you how to do just that. Doing this may seem to be relatively easy task, however, having a good knowledge of your system is always a recommended practice for a good number of reasons including installing and running the appropriate packages for your Linux version, for easy reporting of bugs coupled with many more.

With that said, let us proceed to how you can figure out information about your Linux distribution.

Find Out Linux Kernel Version

We will use uname command, which is used to print your Linux system information such as kernel version and release name, network hostname, machine hardware name, processor architecture, hardware platform and the operating system.

To find out which version of Linux kernel you are running, type:

Shows Current Linux Kernel Version Running on System

Shows Linux System Information

Next, we will use /proc file system, that stores information about processes and other system information, it’s mapped to /proc and mounted at boot time.

Simply type the command below to display some of your system information including the Linux kernel version:

Shows Linux System Information

From the image above, you have the following information:

Find Out Linux Distribution Name and Release Version

The best way to determine a Linux distribution name and release version information is using cat /etc/os-release command, which works on almost all Linux system.

Find Linux Distribution Name and Release Version

In this article, we walked through a brief and simple guide intended to help new Linux user find out the Linux version they are running and also get to know their Linux distribution name and version from the shell prompt.

Perhaps it can also be useful to advanced users on one or two occasions. Lastly, to reach us for any assistance or suggestions you wish to offer, make use of the feedback form below.

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How to Find Which Linux Version You Are Running

When you install a Linux distribution on your own, you know which distribution and version it is.

But if you use SSH to log in to a remote Linux server provided by an enterprise or client, you may wonder which Linux distribution and version it is.

The simplest way to check Linux version is to see the content of the /etc/os-release file:

It will show an output similar to this:

As you can see, the Linux name is Ubuntu and the version is 20.04.1.

However, that’s not the only way to know the Linux distribution details. In this beginner’s tip, I’ll show you different ways to check which Linux you are running.

Find Linux distribution details

Method 1: Use /etc/os-release file

If you are familiar with the Linux directory structure, you probably already know that /etc directory contains the core configuration files of the system.

The os-release file in the /etc directory keeps the information about the Linux distribution. It gives you the distribution name, distribution version, release name or ID.

Here’s what it displays for Alpine Linux server running on Linode infrastructure.

As you can see, the name of Linux distribution is Alpine Linux and the distribution version is 3.12.

The content of the /etc/os-release is usually different for different distributions. Distributions often use it to provide additional information like where to get support or file bugs etc.

For example, the /etc/os-release provides more lines for CentOS Linux.

However, all of them provide the Linux distribution name and version so it is a pretty reliable way to know which Linux you are running. In fact, it is the most reliable way.

Method 2: Use hostnamectl command

Most Linux distributions these days use systemd. On such a system, you can use the hostnamectl command to get Linux version detail.

For the same CentOS system that you saw above, hostnamectl provides the following details:

You can see the Linux version detail in the line starting with ‘Operating System’.

The hostnamectl command is primarily used for dealing with the hostname but if it provides other details why not use it?

Method 3: Use lsb-release command

This is NOT a command that you’ll find in all Linux distributions. I think it is mostly used by Debian/Ubuntu based distributions.

Don’t mind the No LSB modules are available line. It’s not an error of any kind.

Bonus Tip: Find Linux kernel version

Now that you know which distribution you are running, perhaps you would also like to know about the Linux kernel version running on the system.

You can get the kernel details using the uname command in any Linux distribution.

The output shows only the Linux kernel version:

No prizes for guessing that the above system is running on Linux kernel version 5.4.43.

I hope you find this quick tip helpful in finding Linux version detail. If you have questions or suggestions, please let me know in the comment section.

How to Check Your Linux Version

For each new version release, the Ubuntu developers use the year and month of the release as the version number. For example, the latest Ubuntu release – 20.04 Focal Fossa – was released in April 2020.

In Linux, you can obtain information about the installed OS version through a variety of methods. This includes obtaining the version via the GUI and command line. The GUI method shows only the partial version number, such as “18.04.” To obtain the full version number, such as “18.04.1,” use the command-line method.

This article will explain how to obtain Linux version information using the GUI and command line. We have run the commands and procedure mentioned in this article on the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. In the case of Ubuntu 20.04, “20.04” is the full version number, as the point release 20.04.1 has not arrived yet.

Check Ubuntu Version via Graphical User Interface

You can obtain the version information of your Ubuntu OS via the Settings utility. To open the Settings utility, right-click the desktop and select Settings from the menu. Alternatively, you can search and open the Settings utility by hitting the Windows key and searching via the search bar.

In the Settings utility, scroll down and click on the About tab.

In the About window, you will see the version information in the OS Name line, which is 20.04, in our case.

You will also find some other information, such as available memory, processor, graphics, OS type, and disk size.

Check Ubuntu Version via Command Line

There are several ways to obtain your Ubuntu version information via the command line. To open the command line Terminal application in your Ubuntu system, use the Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut.

Method #1: Using the lsb_release Command

With the lsb_release command, you can obtain some information about your Ubuntu system, including the version number.

Use the lsb_release command with the –a switch to view the full version information, along with other relevant information:

When you use the lsb_release command with the –d switch, the window will only display the version number.

From the above outputs, you will see the version number in the Description line, which in our system is 20.04.

Method #2: Using the /etc/issue File

The /etc/issue file is used to display login messages. By default, this file contains the version number information. To find the version number of your Ubuntu system with this method, use the cat command to view the /etc/issue file:

Method #3: Using the /etc/os-release File

The /etc/os-release file is where the OS identification data is stored, including information about the OS version. To check the OS version you are using, view the /etc/os-release file using the cat command:

In the output, you will see the version number of your OS, along with other relevant information.

Method #4: Using the hostnamectl Command

The hostnamectl command is commonly used for searching and changing the hostname of a system. This command can also be used to check the version of the OS you are using.

Along with the OS version, this command also displays the kernel version, as you can see in the following screenshot.

In this article, we discussed how to check the version of the Ubuntu operating system running on your machine using. I hope you enjoyed the article and found it useful for your needs!

About the author

Karim Buzdar

Karim Buzdar holds a degree in telecommunication engineering and holds several sysadmin certifications. As an IT engineer and technical author, he writes for various web sites. He blogs at LinuxWays.

How to check Linux OS version – 4 simple ways

At one point or another, we might have faced a situation where are required to check the Linux version that is installed on a Linux server. So is there a way to check what Linux version are we using? If yes then how to check the Linux OS version?

In this tutorial, we are going to discuss just that. And we will discuss not one but 4 ways to check the Linux version that is installed on your systems.

Commands to check the Linux OS version,

Let’s discuss these methods/commands on how to check the Linux version one by one in a bit of detail.

How to check Linux OS version

1- /etc/os-release or /usr/lib/os-release

/etc/os-release or /usr/lib/os-release, both these files contains data related to operating system identification. /etc/os-release is the main file to refer but in case its not available then /usr/lib/os-release is used.

To check the Linux version, execute the following command,

# cat /etc/os-release

OR

# cat /usr/lib/os-release

This command will show the following output,

2- lsb_release command

The next command on the list is lsb_release. This command shows Linux Standard Base or LSB information about specific Linux distribution with information like version number, release codename, and distributor ID, etc.

To check the OS version in Linux, execute the following command,

And you will get the following output,

3- Hostnamectl

Hostnamectl command shows the current hostname of the system as well as system-related information. To get the information, run

# hostnamectl

Along with the hostname & operating system version, we will also get information like machine-id, boot-id, architecture, etc.

4- /etc/issue

This is another file located on Linux systems that can help us identify the os version installed in Linux systems. Basically, this file contains a message or system identification information to be printed before the login prompt & can be used to identity the os version as well.

Use the following command,

# cat /etc/issue

& you would get the following output,

That’s it guys, these were the 4 ways using which we can identify the OS versions installed on the Linux system. If you guys have any issues or queries regarding this tutorial, then please do let us know using the comment box below.

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