# Uname

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.

## History

The uname system call and command appeared for the first time in PWB/UNIX. Both are specified by POSIX. The GNU version of uname is included in the "sh-utils" or "coreutils" packages. uname itself is not available as a standalone program. The version of uname bundled in GNU coreutils was written by David MacKenzie. The command is available as a separate package for Microsoft Windows as part of the GnuWin32 project and the UnxUtils collection of native Win32 ports of common GNU Unix-like utilities.

## Related and similar commands

* Some Unix variants, such as AT&T UNIX System V Release 3.0, include the related setname program, used to change the values that uname reports.
* The ver command found in operating systems such as DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows is similar to the uname command.
* The bash shell provides the special variables OSTYPE and HOSTTYPE whose values are similar to those of uname -o and uname -m respectively.

## Examples

On a system running Darwin, the output from running uname with the -a command-line argument might look like the text below:
The following table contains examples from various versions of uname on various platforms.
| Distribution | System (or kernel) (-s) POSIX | Operating System (or distribution) (-o) | Machine (-m) POSIX | Processor (-p) | Hardware platform (-i or -M) | OS (kernel) version (-v) POSIX | OS (kernel) release (-r) POSIX |
| Android 4.2.1 on Nexus 4 | Linux | GNU/Linux | armv7l | Un­known | Un­known | #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Nov 8 15:42:02 PST 2012 | 3.4.0-perf-ge039dcb |
| Android 2.3 on Meteorit netbook | Linux | GNU/Linux | armv6l | Un­known | Un­known | | |
| any, coreutils 7.1 | Linux | GNU/Linux | sparc64 | sparc64 | UltraSPARC T1 (Niagara) | (all) | (all) |
| any, coreutils 7.1–8.4 | Linux | GNU/Linux | ppc64 | ppc64 | PPC 970FX (XServe G5) | (all) | (all) |
| Arch Linux | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | Un­known | Un­known | #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue, 04 Oct 2022 19:16:52 +0000 | 6.0.0-arch1-1 |
| A/UX 3.1 | A/UX | illegal option | mc68030 | illegal option | illegal option | SVR2 | 3.1 |
| busybox-w32 1.27 (32-bit) on Windows 10 | Windows_NT | MS/Windows | i686 | Un­known | Un­known | 9200 | 6.2 |
| busybox-w32 1.27 (64-bit) on Wine 2.0 | Windows_NT | MS/Windows | x86_64 | Un­known | Un­known | 3790 | 5.2 |
| CentOS 6.5, Pentium SU4100 | Linux | GNU/Linux | i686 | i686 | i386 | #1 SMP Fri Nov 22 00:26:36 UTC 2013 | 2.6.32-431.el6.i686 |
| Cray UNICOS 9.0.2.2 | sn5176 | style="background:#FFC7C7;color:black;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-no"|illegal option | CRAY Y-MP | style="background:#FFC7C7;color:black;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-no"|illegal option | style="background:#FFC7C7;color:black;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-no"|illegal option | sin.0 | 9.0.2.2 |
| Cygwin (Windows XP), Pentium 4 | CYGWIN_NT-5.1 | Cygwin | i686 | Un­known | Un­known | 2006-01-20 13:28 | 1.5.19(0.150/4/2) |
| Cygwin 1.7 (Windows 7 32-bit), Core i7 | CYGWIN_NT-6.1 | Cygwin | i686 | Un­known | Un­known | 2012-07-20 22:55 | 1.7.16(0.262/5/3) |
| Cygwin 1.7 (Windows 7 64-bit), Core i7 | CYGWIN_NT-6.1-WOW64 | Cygwin | i686 | Un­known | Un­known | 2012-05-09 10:25 | 1.7.15(0.260/5/3) |
| Cygwin 1.7 64 bit (Windows 7 64-bit) | CYGWIN_NT-6.1 | Cygwin | x86_64 | Un­known | Un­known | 2014-02-09 21:06 | 1.7.28(0.271/5/3) |
| Cygwin 2.2 64 bit (Windows 10 64-bit) | CYGWIN_NT-10.0 | Cygwin | x86_64 | Un­known | Un­known | 2015-08-20 11:42 | 2.2.1(0.289/5/3) |
| DJGPP v2 32 bit (Windows Server 2008) | MS-DOS | style="background:#FFC7C7;color:black;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-no"|illegal option | i686 | style="background:#FFC7C7;color:black;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-no"|illegal option | style="background:#FFC7C7;color:black;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-no"|illegal option | 50 | 5 |
| Debian 6.0.5 on Raspberry Pi B | Linux | GNU/Linux | armv6l | Un­known | unknown (-i) invalid (-M) | #90 Wed Apr 18 18:23:05 BST 2012 / #538 PREEMPT Fri Aug 30 20:42:08 BST 2013 | 3.1.9+ / 3.6.11+ |
| Debian on WD MyBookLive | Linux | GNU/Linux | ppc | Un­known | unknown (-i) invalid (-M) | #1 Fri Oct 15 17:13:23 PDT 2010 | 2.6.32.11-svn21605 |
| Debian GNU/Hurd | GNU | GNU | i686-AT386 | Un­known | unknown (-i) illegal option (-M) | GNU-Mach 1.3.99-486/Hurd-0.3 | 0.3 |
| Debian GNU/kFreeBSD 6.0, AMD | GNU/kFreeBSD | GNU/kFreeBSD | x86_64 | amd64 | AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3000+ | #0 Thu Nov 26 04:22:59 CET 2009 | 8.0-1-amd64 |
| DragonFlyBSD | DragonFly | illegal option | i386 | i386 | GENERIC | DragonFly v2.13.0.749.g93fef-DEVELOPMENT #0: … | 2.13-DEVELOPMENT |
| DragonFlyBSD 2.7, AMD64 | DragonFly | illegal option | x86_64 | x86_64 | [filename of kernel conf file] | DragonFly v2.7.3.122.g0ba92-DEVELOPMENT #0: Tue June 8 16:50:35 CEST 2010 | 2.7-DEVELOPMENT root@Chance.: /usr/obj/usr/src/sys/X86_64_GENERIC |
| Fedora 19 | Linux | GNU/Linux | i686 | i686 | i386 | #1 SMP Fri Mar 7 17:22:54 UTC 2014 | 3.13.6-100.fc19.i686 |
| FreeBSD 6.1, Intel | FreeBSD | illegal option | i386 | i386 | [kernel name from kernel conf file. i.e.: GENERIC] | FreeBSD 6.1-RELEASE-p15 #1: Sun Apr 15 18:04:51 EDT 2007 | 6.1-RELEASE-p15 |
| FreeBSD 9.0, Intel | FreeBSD | FreeBSD | amd64 | amd64 | [kernel name from kernel conf file. i.e.: GENERIC] | FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE #0: Tue Jan 3 07:46:30 UTC 2012 root@farrell.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC | 9.0-RELEASE |
| Gentoo, UltraSparc IIe | Linux | GNU/Linux | sparc64 | sun4u | TI UltraSparc IIe (Hummingbird) | #1 SMP Wed Nov 10 02:04:26 CET 2010 | 2.6.34-gentoo-r12 |
| Haiku R1/Alpha 1, QEMU | Haiku | Haiku | BePC | Un­known | Un­known | r33109 Sep 12 2009 17:45:45 | 1 |
| HP-UX | HP-UX | illegal option | 9000/712 | illegal option | [Unique machine ID number or node name if cannot be determined.] | U | B.11.11 |
| HP-UX 11i v3 | HP-UX | illegal option | ia64 | illegal option | [Unique machine ID number or node name if cannot be determined.] | U | B.11.31 |
| GNU Hurd | GNU | GNU | i686-AT386 | unknown | unknown | GNU-Mach 1.8+git20190109-486/Hurd-0.9 | 0.9 |
| IBM AIX PS/2 v1.3 | AIX | illegal option | i386 | illegal option | illegal option | 1 | 3.0 |
| IBM AIX 5.3 | AIX | illegal option | (serial number of machine) | powerpc | IBM,8205-E6B | 5 | 3 |
| IBM AIX 7.1 | AIX | illegal option | (serial number of machine) | powerpc | IBM,7891-73X | 7 | 1 |
| IBM AIX 7.2 | AIX | illegal option | (serial number of machine) | powerpc | IBM,9009-42A | 7 | 2 |
| IBM i 5.3 with QSH | OS400 | (hostname) | (serial number of machine) | Un­known | Un­known | 5 | 3 |
| IBM i 6.1 with QSH | OS400 | (hostname) | (serial number of machine) | Un­known | Un­known | 6 | 1 |
| IBM i 7.1 with QSH | OS400 | (hostname) | (serial number of machine) | Un­known | Un­known | 7 | 1 |
| Interix (Windows Services for UNIX) 3.5 | Interix | illegal option | x86 | Intel_x86_Family6_Model28_Stepping10 | illegal option | 10.0.7063.0 | 6.1 |
| Interix, Subsystem for Unix-based Applications (SUA), AMD64 6.1 (Windows 2008 R2) | Interix | - | genuineintel | Intel64_Family_6_Model_26_Stepping_4 | - | 10.0.7063.0 | 6.1 |
| IRIX | IRIX | illegal option | IP22 | mips | illegal option | | |
| IRIX 6.5.30, Origin 2000 | IRIX64 | illegal option | IP30 IP35 | mips | illegal option | 07202013 | 6.5 |
| Linux Mint 10 "Julia" 64-bit | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | Un­known | Un­known | #33-Ubuntu SMP Sun Sep 19 20:32:27 UTC 2010 | 2.6.35-22-generic |
| Linux on Xeon Phi | Linux | GNU/Linux | k1om | k1om | k1om | #2 SMP Fri Jun 21 13:43:31 EDT 2013 | 2.6.38.8-g2593b11 |
| Mac OS X Panther 10.3, PowerBook G4 (2004) | Darwin | illegal option | Power Macintosh | powerpc | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 7.8.0: Wed Dec 22 14:26:17 PST 2004; root:xnu/xnu-517.11.1.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC | 7.8.0 |
| Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6, MacBook3,1 (Late 2007) | Darwin | illegal option | i386 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 10.0.0: Fri Jul 31 22:47:34 PDT 2009; root:xnu-1456.1.25~1/RELEASE_I386 | 10.0.0 |
| Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 build 11D50, MacbookPro7,1 (Late 2010) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 11.3.0: Thu Jan 12 18:47:41 PST 2012; root:xnu-1699.24.23~1/RELEASE_X86_64 | 11.3.0 |
| OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 build 12D78, MacbookPro10,1 (Mid 2012) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 12.3.0: Sun Jan 6 22:37:10 PST 2013; root:xnu-2050.22.13~1/RELEASE_X86_64 | 12.3.0 |
| OS X Mavericks 10.9 build 13A598, MacbookPro5,1 (Mid 2009) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 13.0.0: Thu Sep 19 22:22:27 PDT 2013; root:xnu-2422.1.72~6/RELEASE_X86_64 | 13.0.0 |
| OS X Yosemite 10.10 build 14A298i, MacbookPro6,2 (Mid 2010) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 14.0.0: Tue Jul 15 23:56:31 PDT 2014; root:xnu-2782.1.43.0.2~1/RELEASE_X86_64 | 14.0.0 |
| OS X El Capitan 10.11 build 15A284, MacBookPro10,1 (Mid 2012) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 15.0.0: Sat Sep 19 15:53:46 PDT 2015; root:xnu-3247.10.11~1/RELEASE_X86_64 | 15.0.0 |
| macOS Sierra 10.12 build 16E195, MacBookPro12,1 (Early 2015) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 16.5.0: Fri Mar 3 16:52:33 PST 2017; root:xnu-3789.51.2~3/RELEASE_X86_64 | 16.5.0 |
| macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 build 17D47, MacBookPro12,1 (Early 2015) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 17.4.0: Sun Dec 17 09:19:54 PST 2017; root:xnu-4570.41.2~1/RELEASE_X86_64 | 17.4.0 |
| macOS Mojave 10.14.3 build 18D109 | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 18.2.0: Thu Dec 20 20:46:53 PST 2018; root:xnu-4903.241.1~1/RELEASE_X86_64 | 18.2.0 |
| macOS Catalina 10.15.5 build 19F101 | Darwin | Darwin | x86_64 | i386 | MacBookPro15.1 | Darwin Kernel Version 19.5.0: Tue May 26 20:41:44 PDT 2020; root:xnu-6153.121.2~2/RELEASE_X86_64 | 19.5.0 |
| macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 build 20B29 on Apple M1 | Darwin | illegal option | arm64 | arm | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 20.1.0: Sat Oct 31 00:07:10 PDT 2020; root:xnu-7195.50.7~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T8101 | 20.1.0 |
| macOS Monterey 12.2.1 build 21D62 on Apple M1 | Darwin | illegal option | arm64 | arm | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 21.3.0: Wed Jan 5 21:37:58 PST 2022; root:xnu-8019.80.24~20/RELEASE_ARM64_T8101 | 21.3.0 |
| Manjaro Linux 0.8.11 64 bit | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | Un­known | Un­known | #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Nov 15 10:54:42 UTC 2014 | 3.17.3-1-MANJARO |
| MidnightBSD 1.0, Intel | MidnightBSD | MidnightBSD | amd64 | amd64 | [kernel name from kernel conf file. i.e.: GENERIC] | MidnightBSD 1.0 #5 r11989M: Sat Aug 11 13:20:45 EDT 2018 root@stargazer.midnightbsd.org:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC | 1.0 |
| MINIX 3.1.7, x86 | Minix | illegal option | i686 | i386 | illegal option | 1.7 | 3 |
| MinGW 32 bit (Windows 7) | MINGW32_NT-6.1 | Msys | i686 | Un­known | Un­known | 2018-11-26 09:22 | 2.11.2(0.329/5/3) |
| MinGW 64 bit (Windows 7) | MINGW64_NT-6.1 | Msys | x86_64 | Un­known | Un­known | 2018-11-26 09:22 | 2.11.2(0.329/5/3) |
| MSYS 32 bit (Windows 7) | MSYS_NT-6.1 | Msys | i686 | Un­known | Un­known | 2018-11-26 09:22 | 2.11.2(0.329/5/3) |
| MSYS 64 bit (Windows 7) | MSYS_NT-6.1 | Msys | x86_64 | Un­known | Un­known | 2018-11-26 09:22 | 2.11.2(0.329/5/3) |
| NetBSD | NetBSD | Un­known | i386 | i386 | Un­known | NetBSD 6.0.1 (GENERIC) | 6.0.1 |
| NonStop OS H06 25 | NONSTOP_KERNEL | Un­known | NSE-T | Un­known | H06 | 25 | Un­known |
| NonStop OS J06 14 | NONSTOP_KERNEL | Un­known | NSE-AB | Un­known | J06 | 14 | Un­known |
| OpenBSD 5.4 | OpenBSD | illegal option | amd64 | amd64 | illegal option | GENERIC.MP#1 | 5.4 |
| openSUSE 10.3, Core2-duo 64-bit | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | x86_64 | x86_64 | #1 SMP 2007/09/21 22:29:00 UTC | 2.6.22.5-31-default |
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | x86_64 | x86_64 | #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Mon Feb 17 10:42:46 UTC 2025 (36519ec) | 6.13.3-1-default |
| OpenWRT Barrier Breaker r40420 on TL-WR1043ND | Linux | GNU/Linux | mips | Un­known | unknown (-i) invalid (-M) | #1 Tue Apr 8 06:30:07 UTC 2014 | 3.10.34 |
| QNX | QNX | – | x86pc | x86 | – | 2010/07/09-14:44:03EDT | 6.5.0 |
| Red Hat Linux, Fedora Core 6, AMD Turion64 mobile | Linux | GNU/Linux | i686 | athlon | i386 | #1 SMP Wed Jan 10 19:28:18 EST 2007 | 2.6.19-1.2895.fc6 |
| ReliantUNIX | ReliantUNIX-Y | | RM600 | R4000 | | B2005 | 5.45 |
| SINIX | SINIX-Y | | RM600 | R4000 | | | 5.43 |
| Solaris 2.5.1 Intel Platform Edition | SunOS | Solaris | i86pc | i386 | i86pc | Generic_103641-42 | 5.5.1 |
| Solaris 8 | SunOS | illegal option | sun4u | sparc | SUNW, UltraAX-i2 | Generic_117350-50 | 5.8 |
| Solaris 9, Sun Fire 280R | SunOS | illegal option | sun4u | sparc | SUNW, Sun-Fire-280R | Generic_112233-08 | 5.9 |
| Solaris 10, Sun Fire V490 | SunOS | illegal option | sun4u | sparc | SUNW, Sun-Fire-V490 | Generic_142900-13 | 5.10 |
| Solaris 11.1, Sun Fire X4540 | SunOS | illegal option | i86pc | i386 | i86pc | 11.1 | 5.11 |
| OpenIndiana | SunOS | illegal option | i86pc | i386 | i86pc | oi_151a8 | 5.11 |
| OpenIndiana Hipster 2018.04 | SunOS | Solaris | i86pc | i386 | i86pc | illumos-47b8d4b884 | 5.11 |
| OpenIndiana Hipster 2021.10 | SunOS | illumos | i86pc | i386 | i86pc | illumos-b12aaafbf5 | 5.11 |
| SmartOS | SunOS | illumos | i86pc | i386 | i86pc | joyent_20250206T001102Z | 5.11 |
| OmniOS | SunOS | illegal option | i86pc | i386 | i86pc | omnios-a708424 | 5.11 |
| Tru64 | OSF1 | invalid | alpha | alpha | invalid | 2650 | V5.1 |
| Ubuntu 11.04 | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | x86_64 | x86_64 | #46-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jun 28 15:07:17 UTC 2011 | 2.6.38-10-generic |
| Ubuntu 12.0.4 on Pandaboard ES | Linux | GNU/Linux | armv7l | armv7l | armv7l | #33-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT Sat Jan 26 00:46:04 UTC 2013 | 3.2.0-1425-omap4 |
| Ubuntu 20.0.4LTS on Raspberry Pi 4 Model B | Linux | GNU/Linux | aarch64 | aarch64 | aarch64 | #20-Ubuntu SMP Sun Sep 6 05:11:16 UTC 2020 | 5.4.0-1018-raspi |
| Ultrix | ULTRIX | – | VAX | – | – | 0 | 4.5 |
| Unity Linux | Linux | GNU/Linux | i686 | Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2520M CPU @ 2.50 GHz | unknown (-i) invalid (-M) | #1 SMP Fri Oct 1 16:46:58 UTC 2010 | 2.6.35.7-unity1 |
| UnxUtils 2007 32 bit (Windows Server 2008) | WindowsNT | illegal option | x86 | illegal option | illegal option | 6 | 0 |
| (SCO) OpenServer 5.0.6 | SCO_SV | (hostname) | i386 | i386 | illegal | 5.0.6 | 3.2 |
| (SCO) System V | SCO_SV | illegal | i386 | i386 | illegal | 6.0.0 | 5 |
| (SCO) UnixWare 7.1.4 | UnixWare | illegal option | i386 | x86at | -i hardware serial/license number, .e.g. 1AB000123 or NUL000000; -M is illegal option | 7.1.4 | 5 |
| UWIN (64 bit Windows 7), Intel Core i5 | UWIN-W7 | UWIN | i686-64 | x64 | 64/64 | 2012-06-26 | 5.0/6.1 |
| SYS$UNIX:SH on OpenVMS on VAX emulator | IS/WB | illegal option | vax-6340 | illegal option | illegal option | std | 5.0 |
| z/OS USS | OS/390 | Un­known | 2097 | Un­known | -i/-M: unknown option; -I: z/OS | 03 | 22.00 |
| Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), Ubuntu 18.04 | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | x86_64 | x86_64 | #476-Microsoft Fri Nov 01 16:53:00 PST 2019 | 4.4.0-18362-Microsoft |
| Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2), Ubuntu 20.04 | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | x86_64 | x86_64 | #1 SMP Wed Aug 25 23:20:18 UTC 2021 | 5.10.60.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 |