How to determine your Linux distribution

Get the current kernel information by typing in the shell:

~$ uname -a

Get the current distribution release information by looking into the following files:

example on any system:

~$ less /etc/*release

System-specific:

Novell SuSE
/etc/SuSE-release

Red Hat
/etc/redhat-release, /etc/redhat_version

Fedora
/etc/fedora-release

Slackware
/etc/slackware-release, /etc/slackware-version

Debian
/etc/debian_release, /etc/debian_version,

Mandrake
/etc/mandrake-release

Yellow dog
/etc/yellowdog-release

Sun JDS
/etc/sun-release

Solaris/Sparc
/etc/release

Gentoo
/etc/gentoo-release