Find out the version of the Ubuntu distribution

Canonical regularly releases new versions of the distribution, or rather twice a year - in April and October. Each new version is labeled with numbers that indicate the year and month of release. In addition, each version gets a code name consisting of two words beginning with the same letter. For example, the first codename used was Warty Warthog.

If you installed the system yourself, you probably know the distribution number, if someone else did it for you, but at some point you may need a specific version number. This may be necessary for various reasons, but most often, in the case of the need to install specific software, connect third-party repositories. Next, let's look at all the ways how you can find out the version of the distribution.

How to find out the version of Ubuntu in the GUI

To see the version of a particular distribution, you do not necessarily need to install third-party programs. You can do it with the help of system tools. Use the "System Options" utility. It is launched from the main menu:

Then you need to select "About System":

This will open a window that displays not only the distribution version, but also the name of the processor, the amount of RAM, the operating system bit capacity and the size of the hard disks. This window is quite similar to what we saw in Windows. In previous versions of the distribution there was still an opportunity to see the version in the resource monitor, but since Ubuntu 14.04 it is no longer available.

How to find out the Ubuntu version in the terminal

Terminal provides many more ways to find out the information you need. The easiest one is to use the lsb_release command:

$ lsb_release -a

Here -a forces the utility to show all the information, r only the version number, and -c only the codename. To view the contents of the /etc/lsb_release file, you need to execute:

$ cat /etc/lsb-release

Using the /etc/issue and /etc/issue.net files, you can also find out the version of the distribution. If you have not edited them before, they store the welcome text that appears after loading the start screen of the operating system. The distribution number is also displayed. Execute:

$ cat /etc/issue.net

There is another way, it may not be as convenient, but it is also very effective:

$ awk '/^Description: Ubuntu [0-9]/ {print "Ubuntu",$3; exit;}' /usr/share/python-apt/templates/Ubuntu.info

You can perform the task using systemd. To do this, execute:

Find out the kernel version in Ubuntu

The command called uname will help us with this. In detail, it looks as follows:

$ uname -a

All the necessary information appears in front of us. Here and the version, and the name of the computer, and the date of the build and architecture. If you only need to see the version, type:

$ uname –r

For architecture:

$ getconf LONG_BIT

Even more information is realistically available if you use another command:

$ lscpu

What parameters was the kernel loaded with? It is easy to find out:

$ cat /proc/cmdline

This is the end of this instruction. Using these methods, you can easily and quickly find out what version of the distribution is installed on your computer or server.