Re: uname in mandrake 8.1

[Bob Proulx]

Fredrik Lindqvist <address@hidden> [2002-12-11 14:15:17 +0000]:
> 
> When running
> #uname -v
> in mandrake 8.1 printed should be the operating system version.
> 
> What i get is though.
> 
> #uname -v
> #1 Sun Sep 23 17:06:39 CEST 2001

But that is the operating system version.

The problem is what exactly is the operating system and what is the
distribution.  This has seen much debate.  Is it the commands?  Is it
the kernel?  Is it the distribution?

The 'uname -v' field is not too useful on most UNIX-like systems.
Here is a sampling.

HPUX:
  A

IBM AIX:
  4

FreeBSD:
  FreeBSD 4.6-STABLE #0: Tue Jul 30 15:31:31 MDT 2002

Linux:
  #1 Sun Apr 21 06:14:26 MDT 2002

Mostly because it was not useful when the kernel needed something to
put there on linux Linus decided to put the date of the kernel
compilation.  It was as good as anything else to put there.

In any case this is an issue for the kernel as it controls the
contents and not uname which only reports the contents.  Don't blame
the messenger.

In the general case the only really portable output of uname that can
be trusted is 'uname' with no options.  That will report 'uname -s'
and after you know the particular system you are running on then you
can ask it questions to which you know that system will respond.

Bob