The minor version of RHEL server is defined by the /etc/redhat-release file and it belongs to redhat-release-server package. The lsb_release script points to /etc/redhat-release which gives the same output as ‘cat /etc/redhat-release’. Linux Standard Base (LSB) is basically a standard that multiple distributions sign up to. It specifies a Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), as well as various other components of a Linux system.
You might have noticed the Ubuntu usage of lsb_release to grab its OS version; the same can be done on CentOS, but first, lsb_release needs to be installed:
# yum install redhat-lsb-core
Now, we can run the same command that Ubuntu uses in order to get OS information:
$ lsb_release -s -d "CentOS Linux release 7.5.1804 (Core) "
The same can be done on Debian, without having to install anything by default:
$ lsb_release -s -d Debian GNU/Linux 9.5 (stretch)
If you encounter the below error while running the command lsb_release:
lsb_release: command not found
you may try installing the below package as per your choice of distribution:
| Distribution | Command |
|---|---|
| Debian | apt-get install lsb-release |
| Ubuntu | apt-get install lsb-release |
| Arch Linux | pacman -S lsb-release |
| Kali Linux | apt-get install lsb-release |
| CentOS | yum install redhat-lsb-core |
| Fedora | dnf install redhat-lsb-core |
| Raspbian | apt-get install lsb-release |
lsb_release Command Examples
1: Print all available information:
# lsb_release -a
2: Print a description (usually the full name) of the operating system:
# lsb_release -d
3: Print only the operating system name (ID), suppressing the field name:
# lsb_release -i -s
4: Print the release number and codename of the distribution, suppressing the field names:
# lsb_release -rcs