This week’s command is: uname

This command is used to list out miscellaneous information about your system.
The syntax is as follows: uname [OPTION]...

I usually use this to find out exactly what kernel release I’m using. (no, I’m not geeky enough to memorize each kernel that I use)

Here’s the usage (taken from the console with modification):

-a, --all print all information, in the following order:
-s, --kernel-name print the kernel name (for me this prints Linux)
-n, --nodename print the hostname of your computer
-r, --kernel-release print the kernel release number
-v, --kernel-version print the kernel version
-m, --machine print the machine hardware name (for me this prints i686)
-o, --operating-system print the operating system
--help display this help and exit
--version output version information and exit


Beleve me, there will be times where you’ll want to find out what kernel you’re using. This is how.

More later,
Jon Howe