Debian Check Version

Here is how to Debian Check Version. I have a lot of virtual machines running Debian. And I dont always remember which version I have on which machine. If you are unsure of which version of Debian you have installed. Here is a few different methods on how check version of your Debian install.

Debian Check Version – Method 1

This will give you the version number of Debian. But it will not give your the update version.
You can simple just read the /etc/issue file.

john@debian:~$ cat /etc/issue
Debian GNU/Linux 7

Debian Check Version – Method 2

This next method will give you the version and the update version. You just need to read the file /etc/debian_version

john@debian:~$ cat /etc/debian_version
7.8

Debian Check Version – Method 3

This method require the use of the package lsb-release. You most likely have it installed already. But if you don’t just run (as root or sudo) apt-get install lsb-release.

Then just run lsb_release -da. Here is an example of the print out from the command.
john@debian:~$ lsb_release -da
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 7.8 (wheezy)
Release: 7.8
Codename: wheezy

Debian Check Version – Method 4

The last method require a systemd running. Then you can use the hostnamectl command.
Here is an example from one of my virtual machines.

root@web:/home/ronny# hostnamectl
Static hostname: web
Icon name: computer-vm
Chassis: vm
Machine ID: 777f6a7a8ff46053d6b461c28e48a0d3
Boot ID: 262db0123dee487582834840e85f2cd9
Virtualization: kvm
Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie)
Kernel: Linux 3.16.0-4-amd64
Architecture: x86-64

So that was four different methods of checking your Debian version number.

Happy version checking!