Unix system version information

Print the current Unix system version information.

Syntax:

unix-system-version-information

Example:

$ unix-system-version-information
Unix System Version Information
timestamp: 2016-09-04T19:32:43Z

uname -a
Darwin host.example.com
16.0.0 Darwin Kernel Version 16.0.0: Thu Aug 18 18:25:11 PDT 2016;
root:xnu-3789.1.29~5/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64

sw_vers
ProductName:       Mac OS X
ProductVersion:    10.12
BuildVersion:      16A304a

Goals

This script has three goals:

• Print the OS name, version, build, and related information.

• Run cross platform on many Unix systems and Unix-like systems.

• Print information that may be useful for diagnostics and debugging.

This script prints a timestamp, which can be useful for snapshotting system information during an upgrade process, or at differing times, etc.

This implementation looks for information in these places:

• The uname command.
• The sw_vers command on macOS.
• The pkginfo command on Solaris.
• The lsb_release command on Linux.
• Files with names including release, version, issue, etc.
• We welcome more ways of finding information.

This implementation is intended to work on current versions of many Unix systems and Unix-like systems, using POSIX shell commands.

This implementation looks for commands and files suitable for Annvix, Arch Linux, Arklinux, Aurox Linux, BlackCat, BSD Cobalt, Chakra, Conectiva, Debian, Fedora / Fedora Core, FreeBSD, FreeEOS, Gentoo Linux, HLFS, HPUX, Immunix, IYCC, Knoppix, Linux-From-Scratch / LFS, Linux-PPC, Linux Mint, Apple Macintosh macOS / OS X / Darwin, Mageia, Mandrake, Mandriva/Mandrake Linux, MkLinux, Novell Linux Desktop, PLD Linux, RHEL / RHAS / Red Hat Linux, Rubix, Scientific Linux / ScientificSL / ScientificCERNSLC / ScientificFermiLTS / ScientificSLF, Slackware, SME Server (Formerly E-Smith), Solaris SPARC, Sun JDS, SUSE Linux, SUSE Linux ES9, Synology, Tiny Sofa, Trustix, TurboLinux, Ubuntu Linux, UltraPenguin, UnitedLinux, VA-Linux/RH-VALE, Yellow Dog.

uname command

This script calls the uname command, which prints the operating system name plus more system information.

Example on Apple macOS:

$ uname -a
Darwin hostname 14.0.0
Darwin Kernel Version 14.0.0:
Fri Sep 19 00:26:44 PDT 2014;
root:xnu-2782.1.97~2/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64

Example on Oracle Solaris:

$ uname -a
SunOS sndcc02.sanjose.ibm.com 5.10 Generic sun4u sparc
SUNW,Sun-Fire-V490

Example on Ubuntu Linux:

$ uname -a
Linux hostname 2.6.35.4-rscloud #8 SMP
Mon Sep 20 15:54:33 UTC 2010
x86_64 GNU/Linux

sw_vers command

The macOS sw_vers command prints software version information, such as the product name and build version.

Example of sw_vers running on macOS:

$ sw_vers
ProductName:Mac OS X
ProductVersion:10.10
BuildVersion:14A389

lsb_release command

The Linux lsb_release command prints distribution information, such as the release name, codename, description, etc.

Example of lsb_release running on Ubuntu Linux:

$ lsb_release -a 
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:    Ubuntu
Description:       Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS
Release:           16.04
Codename:          xenial

release version files

Some systems put release version information in a plain text file.

The file is often called "release", "version", "issue", or similar.

The file is stored in a typical location, such as /etc/version, or similar.

Examples:

$ cat /etc/release
Solaris 10 5/08 s10x_u5wos_10 X86 ...
Solaris 10 10/09 (Update 8) Patch Bundle applied.

$ cat /proc/version
Linux version 4.4.0-34-generic (buildd@lgw01-20) 
(gcc version 5.3.1 20160413 (Ubuntu 5.3.1-14ubuntu2.1) )
#53-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jul 27 16:06:39 UTC 2016

$ cat /etc/issue.net
Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS

Thanks

Thanks for guidance, advice, and improvements:

• Linux Mafia FAQ on release files
• andlrc
• whetu

Tracking

• Command: unix-system-info
• Version: 3.4.0
• Created: 2014-12-24
• Updated: 2016-09-05
• License: BSD, MIT, GPL
• Contact: Joel Parker Henderson (joel@joelparkerhenderson.com)