prompter: using a table, please show me three options to display the current linux version of a system. number the options. I will select an option number for you to elaborate on.

assistant: |   | command             |
|---|---------------------|
| 1 | cat /etc/os-release |
| 2 | lsb_release -a      |
| 3 | hostnamectl         |

prompter: Please tell me more about option 3, and also outline the most popular or common ways to get this information.

assistant: Option 3: hostnamectl

hostnamectl is a utility in Linux systems that allows you to view information about the hostname and system. To check the version of your Linux system, you can run the following command in the terminal:

hostnamectl

This command will display the current version of your Linux distribution, along with other system information like the Operating System, Kernel version, architecture, and more.

In addition to hostnamectl, the following are some of the most popular ways to check the version of a Linux system:

lsb_release -a: This command displays information about the Linux distribution and version, including the Codename, Description, and Release number.
cat /etc/os-release: This command displays information about the Linux distribution and version stored in the os-release file.
uname -r: This command displays the Linux kernel version, which is a low-level component of the operating system.
Note that these commands are not always present in every Linux distribution, and their outputs may differ based on the Linux distribution you are using.

assistant: Option 3, using the hostnamectl command, is a tool that displays system information, including the Linux distribution and version. This command can be used in most modern Linux distributions, including Fedora, CentOS, and Ubuntu.

In addition to hostnamectl, some other common ways to get the current Linux version information include using the cat command to view the contents of the /etc/os-release file, or using the lsb_release command, which provides information about the Linux Standard Base (LSB) version of the distribution. These are both popular methods, but the specific command to use may vary depending on the Linux distribution.

assistant: Here are 3 different ways to check the current version of Linux you are running:
    1. uname -r
    2. cat /proc/version
    3. hostnamectl

prompter: I select the first option.

assistant: `uname` (short for unix name) is a computer program in Unix and Unix-like computer operating systems that prints the name, version and other details about the current machine and the operating system running on it.

The `-r` option, a short-hand for `--kernel-release` prints the kernel release date of current operating system.

assistant: The first option, uname -r, is a simple command used to display the current Linux kernel version. The uname command displays information about the current system, and the -r option specifically shows the release (version) number of the operating system. When you run uname -r, you'll see output like this:

5.4.0-7634-generic

This tells you the version number of the Linux kernel that's currently running on your system, in this case 5.4.0. The rest of the string, -7634-generic, indicates other information such as the specific build or distribution of the kernel.

assistant: The first option uname -r is a command-line interface (CLI) tool that can be used to check the version of the Linux kernel you are running on your system. To use it, simply open a terminal window and enter the command uname -r. This will return the version number of the Linux kernel, which typically consists of several numbers separated by dots (e.g. 5.7.0-1-default).

assistant: Sure, here are three options to display the current Linux version of a system:

lsb_release -a command: This command provides information about the Linux Standard Base (LSB) version, including the distribution name, release number, and codename.

cat /etc/os-release file: This file contains information about the Linux distribution, including the name, version, and ID.

uname -a command: This command provides information about the Linux kernel, including the version number, as well as other system information such as the hostname and system architecture.

Which option would you like me to elaborate on?

prompter: The second one please. Is it possible that this file do not exist on my machine?