How do I find out what version of Linux I'm running?

The kernel is universally detected with : There really isn't a cross-distribution way to determine what distribution and version you're on. There have been attempts to make this consistent, but ultimately it varies, unfortunately. LSB tools provide this information, but ironically aren't installed by default everywhere. Example on an Ubuntu 9.04 system with the package installed: Otherwise, the closest widely-available method is checking files. These exist on most of the common platforms, and o…