How to discover what Linux distribution is in use

Question

Sometimes I need to access some servers running Linux (or maybe another Unix-like SO), but I don\'t know how to verify which distribution is in use on the server (there are

Answer 1

cat /etc/*release

Most distributions put a release file in /etc/ (like /etc/redhat-release, /etc/gentoo-release, etc.) which usually has the version number of your distribution in it.