All linux version names

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

In the preceding command, the option -o prints operating system name and -r prints the kernel release version.

You can also use -a option with uname command to print all system information as shown:

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:

1. Version of the Linux (kernel) you are running: Linux version 4.5.5-300.fc24.x86_64
2. Name of the user who compiled your kernel: [email protected]
3. Version of the GCC compiler used for building the kernel: gcc version 6.1.1 20160510
4. Type of the kernel: #1 SMP (Symmetric MultiProcessing kernel) it supports systems with multiple CPUs or multiple CPU cores.
5. Date and time when the kernel was built: Thu May 19 13:05:32 UTC 2016

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.

If You Appreciate What We Do Here On TecMint, You Should Consider:

TecMint is the fastest growing and most trusted community site for any kind of Linux Articles, Guides and Books on the web. Millions of people visit TecMint! to search or browse the thousands of published articles available FREELY to all.

If you like what you are reading, please consider buying us a coffee ( or 2 ) as a token of appreciation.

We are thankful for your never ending support.

Источник

How to Check OS Version in Linux

Linux version can be checked using inbuilt commands or can read from specific files. It is important to determine the distribution name and version on many occasion like when doing package updates or OS update.

There are a lot of Linux distributions available like Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Mint, Arch, Fedora, RHEL, and more.

In this tutorial, I will show how to check the Linux version from the command line.

Check Linux Version

There are mainly 5 ways we can get Linux distribution name and its version.

1. From /etc/os-release

Use cat command to read the content of the file /etc/os-release , run the following command:

Output from CentOS

Output from Ubuntu

2. Using lsb_release command

The lsb_release -a displays the Linux version information from the command line. The output will display distribution ID, description, release and codename. To display only the description you can use lsb_release -d .

If you get «command not found» and then you need to install ‘lsb-core’ package.

Output of lsb_release -a

To display only the description, run:

3. Using Hostnamectl command

In modern Linux distributions which use systemd init systems, you can use hostnamectl command to display operating system version.

4. From /etc/issue file

You can get version information from /etc/issue file, to read file content use cat or less command:

5. From /etc/*release or /etc/*version

Some distribution use release and version file and those files are specific to that distro.

$ echo /etc/*version /etc/*release
/etc/debian_version /etc/ec2_version /etc/lsb-release /etc/os-release

To read the content from /etc/*release or /etc/*version, run the following command:

If you are interested to know the Linux kernel version and architecture then use uname command or you can read the content from /proc/version file.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned different ways to find Linux OS name and version from I hope you enjoyed reading and please leave your suggestion in the below comment section.

Источник

Curious Case Of Linux Distribution Code Names

Last updated January 20, 2019 By Abhishek Prakash 39 Comments

Have you ever wondered about the code name of the latest release of your favorite Linux distribution?

The upcoming Linux Mint 18 has been codenamed Sarah. Ubuntu 16.04 will be called Xenial Xerus. The list goes on like that.

The question about the code-names is really trivial. It doesn’t make any difference to how a particular Linux distribution function. Yet, as a curious Linux user, you might want to know the logic behind codename of a release. After all, the code name is an integral part of a release and the dev team puts an effort for that as well, isn’t it?

I am going to tell you about the logic behind code naming of some of the most popular Linux distributions. Sit tight, this is going to be a fun ride 🙂

Ubuntu version numbering and codenaming

One of the most popular Linux distribution, Ubuntu follows a biannual release cycle with one release coming in April and other in October.

There is an interesting story behind this naming convention. Mark Shuttleworth and Robert Collins were discussing about the first version of Ubuntu.

lifeless: how long before we make a first release?

sabdfl: it would need to be punchy. six months max.

lifeless: six months! thats not a lot of time for polish.

sabdfl: so we’ll have to nickname it the warty warthog release.

In the above discussion, lifeless is Robert Collins and sabdfl is Mark Shuttleworth. The name stuck. The first mailing list for the Ubuntu team was called “warthogs“, and the team used to hang out on #warthogs on irc.freenode.net.

The month and year of the release play a vital role in the version number of an Ubuntu release. An Ubuntu release has version number of the format XX.YY. The XX is the year of the release and YY is the month of the release. So, we get Ubuntu 16.04 in the 4th month (April) of the year 2016. Ubuntu 15.10 was released in the 10th month (October) of the year 2015.

So far, there has only been one exception to the Ubuntu releases in either April or October in the past 11 years. The release of Ubuntu 6.04 was delayed for two months and this is the reason why it was named Ubuntu 6.06, instead of the usual XX.04 or XX.10.

[Tweet “Ubuntu 6.06 is the only release which was delayed in the last 11 years.”]

Now coming to the code naming of Ubuntu. You may have noticed that any Ubuntu release has a two worded code name that starts with the same letter. For example, Ubuntu 14.04 is called Trusty Tahr (starting with a T).

Ubuntu code names are indeed made of two words, first being an adjective and the second being an endangered species (lately it also contains mythological creatures such as Unicorn or Werewolf). In the previous example, Trusty is an adjective meaning some who could be trusted while Tahr is an animal with some of their sub-species considered to be endangered.

Another interesting fact is that these code names are incremented alphabetically in each release (except the few in the beginning). So, we have Ubuntu 14.04 as Trusty Tahr, Ubuntu 14.10 as Utopic Unicorn, Ubuntu 15.04 as Vivid Vervet and so on.

I presume that now you have a pretty good understanding of Ubuntu version numbering and codenames. If I have to summarize all of the releases, they go like:

So, as you can see, following Ubuntu releases improve your English vocabulary and introduce you to species you might not have heard of 🙂 If you prefer videos, here is a video explaining Ubuntu naming convention:

Linux Mint version numbering and codenaming

The distant cousin of Ubuntu (if I may call it that), Linux Mint is another popular Linux distribution. Now, let’s dig into the version numbering and code-naming of Linux Mint.

Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu. So, a couple of months after an Ubuntu release, a Linux Mint releases comes up based on that Ubuntu release.

Unlike Ubuntu, Linux Mint versioning doesn’t follow the month and year. It is simply incremental. So, we have Linux Mint 15 then Linux Mint 16, Linux Mint 17 and so on. This is for major releases. The minor releases (loose analogy to service pack in Windows), are incremented in decimal points. So, that gives us Linux Mint 17.1, 17.2 etc.

That was about version number, let’s talk about the code names. Each of the Linux Mint releases, be it minor or major, has a code name. And like Ubuntu, they too are in an incremental alphabetical order.

One more interesting thing about Linux Mint codenames is that these female names ending with alphabet ‘a’ and the names have origin in the mythology of Abrahamic religion. That gives us names like Linux Mint 17 Qiana etc.

The major releases increment the alphabetical order of the codename while the minor ones carry the same starting alphabets but change the name. For example, Linux Mint 17.1 is Rebecca, 17.2 is Rafaela and 17.3 is Rosa.

To summarize all the Linux Mint releases so far, here is a table:

Sarah is the only exception in the list that doesn’t end with an ‘a’.

elementary OS version and codenaming

Since we are talking about Ubuntu and Linux Mint, let’s extend this family and include elementary OS (also based on Ubuntu) in the discussion.

elementary OS has version numbers that match the incremental pattern like 0.X. So, the first stable release of elementary OS was 0.1 and then came 0.2 and the current stable version is elementary OS 0.3.

As far as the codename is concerned, elementary OS prefers to have a mythological god’s or goddess’ name. Usually these names are taken from Roman/Nordic mythology. This gives us codenames like Jupiter, Luna, Freya (earlier ISIS) and perhaps the upcoming Loki.

There are no alphabetical constraints here.

0.1 — Jupiter
0.2 — Luna
0.3 — Freya

Debian version and codenaming

Let’s switch to granddaddy of Ubuntu, Linux Mint and elementary OS. Debian, of which Ubuntu has been derived, has a very curious naming system. In fact, Debian itself was named after its founder Ian and his girlfriend Debra. Debian founder Ian Murdock died mysteriously last year but his name has been immortalized in Debian.

Debian version numbers are incremental. That’s not the interesting part. The interesting fact is that all Debian releases are codenamed after the characters of the Toy Story movie. That explains why you have Debian Jessie or Debian Woody.

[Tweet “#LinuxFacts : Debian releases are named after Toy Story characters.”]

Here is a table for a quick glance on all the Debian releases and their codename:

And if you have watched the first Toy Story movie, you might remember the villain of the movie Sid. This neighborhood kid is a destroyer of toys. This is why all Debian unstable releases are codenamed Debian Sid.

I think there are plenty of characters in the Toy Story movie series so we should not run out of codenames for future Debian releases 🙂

OpenSUSE version and codenaming

The first OpenSUSE release in 2005 was OpenSUSE 10.1. I do not know why it started with 10 and not 1. But ever since, the major release increases the version number before the decimal while the minor releases increase the version number after decimal points. This gives us version numbers like OpenSUSE 11.3, 11.4, 12.1, 12.2 etc.

Initial releases of OpenSUSE did not have a codename. It was with the release of OpenSUSE 11.2 that we start seeing a codename.

Needless to say that OpenSUSE has a green aura to it. This greenish touch is extended to the codenames as well. OpenSUSE codenames are actually a shade of the color green. That explains the codenames like Emerald, Teal etc for OpenSUSE.

11.3 — Teal
11.4 — Celadon
12.1 — Asparagus
12.2 — Mantis
12.3 — Dartmouth
13.1 — Bottle
13.2 — Harlequin
Leap 42.1 — Malachite

Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of these shades of green before. And if you think maybe OpenSUSE will run out of codenames in future, I say stay positive. If there can be fifty shades of grey, there can be plenty for green as well 🙂

Your take?

What’s your take on codenames? Do you think it is easier to remember a release with the codename than a version number? Do you think codenames are needed at all? Which Linux distribution’s codename pattern you like the most? Feel free to express your views in the comment box below.

Like what you read? Please share it with others.

Источник