I have always found it difficult to find information about the system itself in Unix, whether it be
- Which OS I am using (version number and all, to compare it with the latest available builds)?
- Which Desktop Environment am I using? If I am using KDE, most of the programs begin with a K and I can say I am using KDE, but there should be some way to query this, say from a script.
- Which kernel version am I using? (For example, I am using Fedora, and I want to know what Linux kernel version I am using)
Basically, what I miss is a single point/utility that can get all this information for me. Most of the times the solutions to the above would themselves be OS specific. Then, you are stuck.
Answers:
Thank you for visiting the Q&A section on Magenaut. Please note that all the answers may not help you solve the issue immediately. So please treat them as advisements. If you found the post helpful (or not), leave a comment & I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Method 1
In addition to uname -a, which gives you the kernel version, you can try:
lsb_release -idrc # distro, version, codename, long release name
Most Desktop Environments like GNOME or KDE have an “about” or “info” menu option that will tell you what you use currently, so no commandline needed there really.
Method 2
As @milk pointed out, you can use uname -a and that will tell you information on all the UNIXes I have access to. For example, on Linux:
Linux localhost 2.6.33.6-147.2.4.fc13.x86_64 #1 SMP Fri Jul 23 17:14:44 UTC 2010 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
On FreeBSD:
FreeBSD localhost 6.3-RELEASE-p3-jc1 FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE-p3-jc1 #2: Thu Aug 7 14:36:29 PDT 2008 <a href="https://getridbug.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="592c2a3c2b19333830356e77333631373a3634293837303c2a773a3634">[email protected]</a>:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/jail7 i386
On OpenSolaris:
SunOS localhost 5.11 snv_134 i86pc i386 i86pc
As far as the desktop environment question goes, you should be able to echo $DESKTOP_SESSION in KDE or GNOME and get back the right answer.
If you want to find out what distro you’re running, a cheater’s shortcut is to cat /etc/*-version /etc/*-release.
Method 3
To collect an information about a your system in Unix (GNU/Linux) you need known several useful commands.
Information about an operation system
$ lsb_release -idrc Distributor ID: Debian Description: Debian GNU/Linux 8.6 (jessie) Release: 8.6 Codename: jessie
Information about a CPU architecture such as number of CPU’s, cores, CPU family model, CPU caches, threads, processor
$ lscpu Architecture: x86_64 CPU op-mode(s): 32-bit, 64-bit Byte Order: Little Endian CPU(s): 2 On-line CPU(s) list: 0,1 Thread(s) per core: 1 Core(s) per socket: 2 Socket(s): 1 NUMA node(s): 1 Vendor ID: GenuineIntel CPU family: 6 Model: 42 Model name: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU B960 @ 2.20GHz Stepping: 7 CPU MHz: 1416.335 CPU max MHz: 2200.0000 CPU min MHz: 800.0000 BogoMIPS: 4390.07 L1d cache: 32K L1i cache: 32K L2 cache: 256K L3 cache: 2048K NUMA node0 CPU(s): 0,1
Information about a kernel, a machine hardware name and an operating system
$ uname -a Linux localhost 3.16.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.16.36-1+deb8u2 (2016-10-19) x86_64 GNU/Linux
Host name
$ hostname localhost
Private IP address (ipv4 version) (I hidden last digits own IP as XX)
$ hostname -I 192.168.1.XX
Public IP address (ipv4 version) (need connected to the Internet)
$ dig +short myip.opendns.com @resolver1.opendns.com 91.202.144.118
Information about an system (hardware) (pared down)
$ sudo dmidecode -t system
System Information
Manufacturer: Acer
Product Name: Aspire E1-531G
Version: V2.11
Serial Number: NXM7BEU0013010B0EF1601
UUID: 332A4CE1-CB4B-E211-87F5-20898452C545
Wake-up Type: Power Switch
SKU Number: Aspire E1-531G_064A_V2.11
Family: Type1Family
Information about an processor (pared down)
$sudo dmidecode -t processor
Processor Information
Socket Designation: U3E1
Type: Central Processor
Family: Pentium
Manufacturer: Intel(R) Corporation
ID: A7 06 02 00 FF FB EB BF
Signature: Type 0, Family 6, Model 42, Stepping 7
Flags:
FPU (Floating-point unit on-chip)
********
VME (Virtual mode extension)
Version: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU B960 @ 2.20GHz
Voltage: 1.1 V
External Clock: 100 MHz
Max Speed: 4000 MHz
Current Speed: 2200 MHz
Status: Populated, Enabled
Upgrade: Socket rPGA988B
L1 Cache Handle: 0x000B
L2 Cache Handle: 0x000C
L3 Cache Handle: 0x000D
Serial Number: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Asset Tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Part Number: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Core Count: 2
Core Enabled: 2
Thread Count: 2
Characteristics:
64-bit capable
Multi-Core
Execute Protection
Power/Performance Control
Desktop environment
A name of desktop environment keeping in the environment variable “DESKTOP_SESSION”. But if the environment variable “DESKTOP_SESSION” is “default” (as in my case), try getting a value from the environment variable “XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP”.
$ echo $DESKTOP_SESSION default $ echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP GNOME
For detect a version of desktop environment you need more efforts, because there has not built-in utilities. This command tested only my computer with the Gnome shell, but must work with other popular graphical desktop environment: KDE, Mate, Cinnamon, LXDE, Xfce.
$ pgrep -l "gnome|kde|mate|cinnamon|lxde|xfce" | egrep "-shell$" | awk '{print $2}' | xargs apt-cache show
Package: gnome-shell
Version: 3.14.4-1~deb8u1
Installed-Size: 6910
Maintainer: Debian GNOME Maintainers <<a href="https://getridbug.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="56263d317b3138393b337b3b373f3822373f38332425163a3f25222578373a3f39223e783233343f373878392431">[email protected]</a>>
Architecture: amd64
Depends: gir1.2-clutter-1.0 (>= 1.17), gir1.2-glib-2.0 (>= 1.39.90-4~), gir1.2-gtk-3.0 (>= 3.8), gir1.2-mutter-3.0 (>= 3.14.4), gir1.2-networkmanager-1.0, gir1.2-soup-5
Recommends: gkbd-capplet, gnome-contacts, gnome-control-center, gnome-user-guide, unzip, gdm3 (>= 3.10.0.1-3~)
Conflicts: gnome-screensaver (<< 3.6)
Breaks: fglrx-driver (<< 1:11-10), gdm3 (<< 3.10.0.1-3~), gnome-control-center (<< 1:3.0), gnome-session (<< 3.0), gnome-tweak-tool (<< 3.5)
Description-en: graphical shell for the GNOME desktop
The GNOME Shell provides core interface functions like switching
windows, launching applications or see your notifications. It takes
advantage of the capabilities of modern graphics hardware and
introduces innovative user interface concepts to provide a
delightful and easy to use experience. GNOME Shell is the defining
technology of the GNOME 3 user experience.
Description-md5: 51a5a94e6b632e350489b7b8d27ab9fc
Homepage: http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell
Tag: implemented-in::c, implemented-in::ecmascript, interface::x11,
role::program, uitoolkit::gtk
Section: gnome
Priority: optional
Filename: pool/main/g/gnome-shell/gnome-shell_3.14.4-1~deb8u1_amd64.deb
Size: 637652
MD5sum: 183a6bdcd8b34c6a56c09add66301d4a
SHA1: a11964152940a4a70e3d9ce93a6f21bb0a661379
SHA256: ff2ce3aa442012971ba5526f488568bbde6d53a8dbb71b95a587792e903033e3
Information about a screen
$ xrandr --current Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1366 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192 LVDS1 connected primary 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 194mm 1366x768 60.00*+ 1360x768 59.80 59.96 1024x768 60.00 800x600 60.32 56.25 640x480 59.94 VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
If you need a good tool for similar tasks and more features, I recommend the “HardInfo” – https://github.com/lpereira/hardinfo. It easy to install in Debian-based systems.
System profiler and benchmark tool for Linux systems
Based on
- http://www.tecmint.com/commands-to-collect-system-and-hardware-information-in-linux/
- https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Guide_to_Unix/Commands/System_Information
- https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-to-find-my-public-ip-address-from-command-line-on-a-linux/
- Is there a way to retrieve the name of the Desktop Environment?
- https://askubuntu.com/questions/125062/how-can-i-find-which-desktop-enviroment-i-am-using
- https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/2673/202463
Method 4
Maybe you can use
uname -a
to get information about the kernel version and which OS you are using.
Method 5
Run gnome-system-monitor (package is the same name in Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora), and click on the System tab:
The desktop thing is a little hard because you can have multiple ones installed, and can run one package belonging to one desktop on a different desktop. Also, running printenv DESKTOP_SESSION on my Debian system just outputs default (but it works well on Ubuntu and Fedora).
Method 6
Not totally foolproof, but halfway there:
xwininfo -root -children|grep kwin xwininfo -root -children|grep gnome-panel
(I can’t help it if you feel like using gnome-panel under kwin, though 😉
Also, I find this very useful under Linux:
cat /etc/issue
Method 7
Building on everyones post above, maybe run a simple script
#!/bin/bash lsb_release -idrc ; printenv DESKTOP_SESSION ; uname -a
running that gives me
Distributor ID: LinuxMint Description: Linux Mint 9 Isadora Release: 9 Codename: isadora gnome Linux judas327 2.6.32-24-generic-pae #39-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jul 28 07:39:26 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0