There are few ways to figure out what version of Linux you are running on your machine as well as distribution name.
Let's start:
First of all, run:
uname -a Linux vm-6 6.0.9-200.fc36.x86_64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Wed Nov 16 17:50:45 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
that will give you some idea on the architecture, Linux kernel; sometime it will also indicate if it's Debian, CentOS, Ubuntu and so on. In our case it does not, so we move on.
Next, you will review /proc/version, which stores information about the system.
cat /proc/version Linux version 6.0.9-200.fc36.x86_64 (mockbuild@bkernel01.iad2.fedoraproject.org) (gcc (GCC) 12.2.1 20220819 (Red Hat 12.2.1-2), GNU ld version 2.37-36.fc36) #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Wed Nov 16 17:50:45 UTC 2022
This seems to be Fedora. The Fedora project is the upstream, community distro of Red Hat® Enterprise Linux.
Next, we can find out the distribution name and release version. For that, the best way to determine would be to review the /etc/os-release file. It is present almost on all Linux systems. Exceptions are some misc appliances, e.g. storage, TV, phones.
Please note that that depending on the distro, the /etc/os-release could be named something else.
Here's an output for our Fedora Linux:
cat /etc/os-release NAME="Fedora Linux" VERSION="36 (Server Edition)" ID=fedora VERSION_ID=36 VERSION_CODENAME="" PLATFORM_ID="platform:f36" PRETTY_NAME="Fedora Linux 36 (Server Edition)" ANSI_COLOR="0;38;2;60;110;180" LOGO=fedora-logo-icon CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:fedoraproject:fedora:36" HOME_URL="https://fedoraproject.org/" DOCUMENTATION_URL="https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora/f36/system-administrators-guide/" SUPPORT_URL="https://ask.fedoraproject.org/" BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/" REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT="Fedora" REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT_VERSION=36 REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="Fedora" REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION=36 PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal:PrivacyPolicy" VARIANT="Server Edition" VARIANT_ID=server
We learn a bit more about our system. It is a Fedora Linux 36 (Server Edition).
As an alternative, you can try running the lsb_release utility, which will print Linux Standard Base (LSB for short) information about the particular Linux distro you're running. The lsb_release may not be installed by default. Depending on the distribution, there are different ways on how to install it.
Once installed, we run the utility by typing lsb_release -a
lsb_release -a LSB Version: :core-4.1-amd64:core-4.1-noarch Distributor ID: Fedora Description: Fedora release 36 (Thirty Six) Release: 36 Codename: ThirtySix
It does match with the above, it is a 64bit version of Fedora 36 Linux.
Furthermore, you can use another tool, hostnamectl,
Static hostname: vm-6 Icon name: computer-vm Chassis: vm П÷√╢ Machine ID: 8b145c3da3cd489bb2e6ck2634be28d3 Boot ID: 463eef4b0baa5dda8482a0f954671ae8 Virtualization: kvm Operating System: Fedora Linux 36 (Server Edition) CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:fedoraproject:fedora:36 Kernel: Linux 6.0.9-200.fc36.x86_64 Architecture: x86-64 Hardware Vendor: QEMU Hardware Model: Standard PC _Q35 + ICH9, 2009_
this particular machine is running on the KVM technology (stands for Kernel-based Virtual Machines) and that it is Fedora Linux 36 and x86-64