Name

os-release — Operating system identification

Synopsis

/etc/os-release

Options

The following OS identifications parameters may be set using /etc/os-release:

NAME=

A string identifying the operating system, without a version string, and not necessarily suitable for presentation to the user. If not set defaults to Linux. Example: NAME=Fedora or NAME="Debian GNU/Linux".

VERSION=

A string identifying the operating system version, excluding any name information and suitable for presentation to the user. Example: VERSION=15 or VERSION="15 (Rawhide)".

ID=

A lower-case string (no spaces) identifying the operating system, excluding any version information and suitable for processing by scripts or usage in generated file names. If not set defaults to linux. Example: ID=fedora.

VERSION_ID=

A lower-case string (mostly numeric, no spaces) identifying the operating system version, excluding any name information and suitable for processing by scripts or usage in generated file names. Example: VERSION_ID=15.

PRETTY_NAME=

A pretty operating system name in a format suitable for presentation to the user. May or may not contain an OS version of some kind, as suitable. If not set defaults to Linux. Example: PRETTY_NAME=Fedora 15 (Rawhide).

ANSI_COLOR=

A suggested presentation color when showing the distribution name on the console. This should be specified as string suitable for inclusion in the ESC [ m ANSI/ECMA-48 escape code for setting graphical rendition. Example: ANSI_COLOR=0;31 for red, or ANSI_COLOR=1;34 for light blue.

If you are reading this file from code or a shell script to determine the OS or a specific version of it, use the ID and VERSION_ID fields. When looking for an OS identification string for presentation to the user use the PRETTY_NAME field.

Note that operating system vendors may choose not to provide version information, for example to accommodate for rolling releases. In this case VERSION and VERSION_ID may be unset. Applications should not rely on these fields to be set.