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In a tutorial, I'm prompted "If you are running Squeeze, follow these instructions..." and "If you are running Wheezy, follow these other instructions..."

When I run uname, I get the following information:

Linux dragon-debian 3.2.0-4-686-pae #1 SMP Debian 3.2.63-2+deb7u2 i686 GNU/Linux

Is that information enough to know if I'm using Squeeze or Wheezy, or do I get that from somewhere else?

IQAndreas
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    Run `lsb_release -a`. – Faheem Mitha Jan 03 '15 at 13:01
  • @FaheemMitha There it is: https://gist.github.com/IQAndreas/d7996a6b6f7bee12ec24 (though one of the answers beat you to it by a hair) – IQAndreas Jan 03 '15 at 13:15
  • Possible dupe of http://unix.stackexchange.com/q/6345/4671 – Faheem Mitha Apr 24 '15 at 08:00
  • @FaheemMitha Not a duplicate, that question asks what the version number is. This question is Debian-specific and asks what "version name" is being used. – IQAndreas Apr 24 '15 at 09:40
  • That's basically the same thing. Version number and name (if available) go together. – Faheem Mitha Apr 24 '15 at 09:46
  • @FaheemMitha Not in the case of Debian; none of the commands listed in the "duplicate question's" accepted answer tell me whether I'm running _Squeeze_ or _Wheezy_. – IQAndreas Apr 25 '15 at 02:00
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    @IQAndreas I don't use Debian, but based on https://wiki.debian.org/DebianSqueeze and https://wiki.debian.org/DebianWheezy it sure seems like they're in sync. I reopened it since your question is maybe slightly different, but the only different part is "which Debian version is Squeeze and which is Wheezy", which seems pretty easy to resolve unless I'm misunderstanding something – Michael Mrozek Apr 25 '15 at 02:08

4 Answers4

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Commands to try:

• cat /etc/*-release

• cat /proc/version

• lsb_release -a
- this shows "certain LSB (Linux Standard Base) and distribution-specific information".

For a shell script to get the details on different platforms, there's this related question.

Edward
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PM 2Ring
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  • It's funny you should ask, I just finished writing a related question which I share the outputs of those commands: [_What is the difference between all of these Debian version numbers?_](http://unix.stackexchange.com/q/177207/5769) But sadly, none of the outputs say whether I'm using _Squeeze_ or _Wheezy_. – IQAndreas Jan 03 '15 at 12:58
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    The last command you edited in (`lsb_release -a`) [tells me it's _Wheezy_](https://gist.github.com/IQAndreas/d7996a6b6f7bee12ec24); perfect! – IQAndreas Jan 03 '15 at 13:02
  • @IQAndreas: Hmmm. It's weird that that you didn't also get that info from `cat /etc/*-release` on the `DISTRIB_CODENAME` line. OTOH, I'm not on Debian, I'm on a derived distro, Mepis 11. – PM 2Ring Jan 03 '15 at 13:06
  • @IQAndreas As tested on Debian Wheezy, all three provide the Debian version for me: (a) `cat /etc/*-release` shows Wheezy or, equivalently, version 7, on three separate lines; (b) `cat /proc/version` shows version number 7 in the suffix to the kernel build; and (c) `lsb_release -a` shows Wheezy on two lines and version 7 on a third. – John1024 Jan 03 '15 at 23:50
  • @John1024 _"... shows version number in the suffix of the kernel build."_ - Ah, so that is what `deb7u2` meant. From only glancing at it, I assumed it was the Git commit id. – IQAndreas Jan 05 '15 at 01:13
27

To get the exact version number use

cat /etc/debian_version
air4x
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    This does not answer the OP's question of the *named* version (e.g Wheezy or Jessie) – JoelAZ Oct 11 '17 at 04:25
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    This answer should be the preferred general answer because it works on distros derived from debian. `lsb_release` gives the debian version only on debian itself. On Ubuntu 18.10, `cat /etc/debian_version` gives `buster/sid`, which is the named debian version I expected. – Reece Feb 13 '19 at 00:53
  • This one works in Ubuntu. – d a i s y Feb 20 '19 at 08:30
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$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)"
NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="9"
VERSION="9 (stretch)"
ID=raspbian
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianForums"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianBugs"
brennersepp
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david@asus:/usr/share/applications$ lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Debian Description: Debian GNU/Linux 8.6 (jessie) Release: 8.6 Codename: jessie

David
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    What new value does this answer bring compared to [the accepted answer](http://unix.stackexchange.com/a/177206/133107)? – techraf Nov 13 '16 at 08:13
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    This answer is from a new user, who needs to learn how to write better answers or edit other ones to add useful information. – Edward Jan 03 '18 at 21:50