Here are a few ways to find out which Linux distro you are using :
- From the Boot Time messages
Fire up your favorite terminal program and type in the following
dmesg | head -1
The output would be similar to:
Linux version 4.9.0-5-amd64 (debian-kernel@lists.debian.org) (gcc version 6.3.0 20170516 (Debian 6.3.0-18) ) #1 SMP Debian 4.9.65-3+deb9u2 (2018-01-04)
- Using /proc/version
In the terminal type
cat /proc/version
The output would be like:Linux version 4.9.0-5-amd64 (debian-kernel@lists.debian.org) (gcc version 6.3.0 20170516 (Debian 6.3.0-18) ) #1 SMP Debian 4.9.65-3+deb9u2 (2018-01-04)
- Using /etc/issue
This method gives the most appropriate answer on older Linux Distributions.
cat /etc/issue
The output should be like:
Debian GNU/Linux 9 \n \l
- Using /etc/os-release
This method works best on modern Linux distributions.
cat /etc/os-release
The output should be like:
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="9"
VERSION="9 (stretch)"
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"
The original source is here
How To Know Which Linux Distribution You Are Using?