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For any given version or installation of Linux Mint, how would I find out which version of Ubuntu it is based on? I'm sure it must be in documentation somewhere right?

still_dreaming_1
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  • Is there a file with *release* in its name in `/etc/`, something like `/etc/*release*`? Maybe there is something useful in it. – mnille Mar 16 '16 at 14:10
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    There's a [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Mint_version_history) with a handy chart – Stack Underflow Feb 23 '19 at 00:17

2 Answers2

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You'll find Ubuntu version in the /etc/upstream-release/lsb-release file:

$ cat /etc/upstream-release/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=14.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=trusty

To figure out which subrelease you are using, you need to know what kernel you are running, e.g. here kernel 3.19:

$ uname -r
3.19.0-32-generic

Then you compare it with the 14.04.x Ubuntu Kernel Support schedule which says that in my case, the 3.19 kernel matches 14.04.3. Now on wiki it listed

Adi Prasetyo
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jlliagre
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    Awesome! I was hoping to find out about something just like this! – still_dreaming_1 Mar 16 '16 at 14:43
  • How specific is this information? I am trying to install a driver that says it was designed for `14.04.2 LTS`, but my lsb-release file says I am on `14.04`. There is also a `DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION` line that says `"Ubuntu 14.04 LTS"`. Does that mean I have a version just before `14.04.2`, or is it just not specific enough to show the last decimal point version number? – still_dreaming_1 Mar 16 '16 at 14:48
  • Answer updated with a method to verify it. – jlliagre Mar 16 '16 at 15:02
7

I've done /etc/os-release. Here is the result with extended information:

NAME="Linux Mint"
VERSION="18.3 (Sylvia)"
ID=linuxmint
ID_LIKE=ubuntu
PRETTY_NAME="Linux Mint 18.3"
VERSION_ID="18.3"
HOME_URL="http://www.linuxmint.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://forums.linuxmint.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/"
VERSION_CODENAME=sylvia
UBUNTU_CODENAME=xenial
Kevdog777
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TOPKAT
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