1. uname command
The uname command prints information about the system. uname is a portmanteau word made up from “unix” and “name”. uname can be called from the command line in Linux as,
uname [OPTION]...
The most common way to use uname is with the -a option, which stands for “all” the information.
$ uname -a Linux flute 5.0.0-32-generic #34~18.04.2-Ubuntu SMP Thu Oct 10 10:36:02 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
The contents of the above output, as given by the info command are, kernel-name, node-name, kernel-release, kernel-version, machine, processor, hardware-platform and the operating-system respectively. So we can say that the above uname -a output indicates the following information about the system:
kernel-name: Linux node-name: flute kernel-release: 5.0.0-32-generic kernel-version: #34~18.04.2-Ubuntu SMP Thu Oct 10 10:36:02 UTC 2019 machine: x86_64 processor: x86_64 hardware-platform: x86_64 operating-system: GNU/Linux
The kernel-release is the release name of the Linux kernel as published on sites like the Linux Kernel Archives. The kernel-version relates to the Linux distribution. So, in this case, it tells that the kernel version is #34~18.04.2-Ubuntu SMP, compiled at Oct 10, 2019, 10:36:02 UTC.
2. uname command examples
2.1 uname
The uname command without any argument prints the kernel name. uname, with the -s option for “system”, does the same.
$ uname Linux $ uname -s Linux
2.2 uname -n
uname, with the -n option, prints the network node hostname of the system.
$ uname -n flute
2.3 uname -r
The -r option prints the kernel release of the system.
$ uname -r 5.0.0-32-generic
2.4 uname -v
The -v option prints the kernel version of the system.
$ uname -v #34~18.04.2-Ubuntu SMP Thu Oct 10 10:36:02 UTC 2019
2.5 uname -m
With the -m option prints the machine hardware name of the system.
$ uname -m x86_64
2.6 uname -p
With the -p option prints the processor type of the system. This a non-portable option and might not work in many non-Linux systems.
$ uname -p x86_64
2.7 uname -i
With the -i option prints the hardware platform of the system. This a non-portable option and might not work in many non-Linux systems.
$ uname -i x86_64
2.8 uname -o
With the -o option prints the operating system of the system. This a non-portable option and might not work in many non-Linux systems.
$ uname -o GNU/Linux
