How do I identify the particular Linux flavor via command line?

Question

I'd like to be able to detect which particular Linux flavor is installed on a computer, e.g. Ubuntu vs Fedora, via a command line command.

Some people recommend uname -a, but that only reports the kernel version.

Possible duplicate of [Best way to find os name and version in Unix/Linux platform](https://stackoverflow.com/q/26988262/608639), [How to discover what Linux distribution is in use](https://stackoverflow.com/q/264290/608639), etc. — jww, Oct 13 '18 at 04:52

score 108 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 21 '23 at 14:46

108

Try the below command.... It worked for me...

cat /proc/version

Once you know that you are running Red Hat for example, you can get to the point with:

cat /etc/redhat-release

Or on Debian:

cat /etc/debian_version

or in general :

cat /etc/*-release

Also you could use the following command

cat /etc/issue

edited Mar 21 '23 at 14:46

Kashyap

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answered Jan 29 '15 at 05:50

ramit girdhar

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cat /etc/*-release is it work on all Linux flavours? like Cent OS, Ubuntu, Debian etc. – Amol Suryawanshi Jul 08 '19 at 06:29
It should work ...but it doesn't then try other options that I have provided. – ramit girdhar Jul 23 '19 at 16:22

score 23 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 23 '12 at 17:46

23

For displaying details including release and codename of the distro

lsb_release -a

answered Oct 23 '12 at 17:46

Rag Sagar

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Doesn't work for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.6 (Maipo) – Astitva Srivastava Jan 22 '19 at 14:04
... or Arch Linux. – a2800276 Mar 04 '23 at 16:27
Does `cat /etc/os-release` work? – Nav May 22 '23 at 06:55

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 25 '22 at 07:51

3

You can try:

echo $(lsb_release -si)

edited Aug 25 '22 at 07:51

vvvvv

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answered Oct 23 '12 at 17:33

Bhanu Kaushik

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Doesn't work for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.6 (Maipo) – Astitva Srivastava Jan 22 '19 at 14:05
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Why would you need to `echo` a subshell output, isn't that redundant? – nomæd Sep 27 '21 at 14:01
@nomæd Yes, do `lsb_release -si`, echo is useless – Galacticai Apr 20 '23 at 03:15

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered May 22 '23 at 06:56

cat /etc/os-release is the command that worked for me. It displays information in the following format:

NAME="Linux Mint"
VERSION="21.1 (Vera)"
ID=linuxmint
ID_LIKE="ubuntu debian"
PRETTY_NAME="Linux Mint 21.1"
VERSION_ID="21.1"
HOME_URL="https://www.linuxmint.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://forums.linuxmint.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://linuxmint-troubleshooting-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.linuxmint.com/"
VERSION_CODENAME=vera
UBUNTU_CODENAME=jammy

a handy shorthand: `source /etc/os-release && echo $UBUNTU_CODENAME` — ddelange, May 22 '23 at 11:12

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 26 '23 at 18:11

0

Try hostnamectl. It lists the operating system, CPE OS Name, Kernel, Architecture, etc.

answered Feb 26 '23 at 18:11

PR0M3TH3US

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only for systemd based systems :) – a2800276 Mar 04 '23 at 16:28

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited May 01 '23 at 17:26

0

Use command to know the name of the os:

cat /etc/*-release

edited May 01 '23 at 17:26

Tyler2P

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answered Apr 29 '23 at 14:22

Mostafa Abdalla

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How do I identify the particular Linux flavor via command line?

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