UNAME(1P)

💖 uname(1P) — the POSIX Programmer's Manual bestie edition 💖

okay so welcome to uname(1P), straight out of the POSIX Programmer's Manual 🎀 this is the POSIX version of the page, and heads up:

PROLOG — this manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux. no cap, always check your own system's page too bestie 💅

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✨ NAME ✨

uname — return system name 🦋

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

uname [-amnrsv]

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so like, by default? uname just writes the operating system name to standard output. that's it. that's the whole vibe 🌸

but when you start passing options, it writes symbols representing one or more system characteristics to standard output instead. and here's the tea — the format and contents of the symbols are implementation-defined, so don't come for me if yours looks different 😭

on systems conforming to the System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1‐2017, the symbols written shall be those supported by the uname() function as defined in the System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1‐2017. periodt. 👑

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

first off, the uname utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines. (yes bestie, there are rules to the syntax and we are following them 🫶)

The following options shall be supported:

• -a — behave as though all of the options -mnrsv were specified. the full buffet, all of it, iconic 💅
• -m — write the name of the hardware type on which the system is running to standard output.
• -n — write the name of this node within an implementation-defined communications network. 🌐
• -r — write the current release level of the operating system implementation.
• -s — write the name of the implementation of the operating system.
• -v — write the current version level of this release of the operating system implementation.

and if you specify no options at all? the uname utility shall write the operating system name, as if the -s option had been specified. so it's giving -s by default, lowkey 🤭

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✨ OPERANDS ✨

None. zero. nothing. empty plate 🍽️✨

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✨ STDIN ✨

Not used. it does not want your input, it's not reading it, it said what it said 🙈

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✨ INPUT FILES ✨

None. 🎀

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✨ ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES ✨

The following environment variables shall affect the execution of uname:

• LANG — provide a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Section 8.2, Internationalization Variables for the precedence of internationalization variables used to determine the values of locale categories.)
• LC_ALL — if set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the other internationalization variables. the final boss of locale settings, it overrides EVERYTHING 💅
• LC_CTYPE — determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments).
• LC_MESSAGES — determine the locale that should be used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
• NLSPATH — determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC_MESSAGES.

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✨ ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS ✨

Default. nothing special, it's chill 🧘

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✨ STDOUT ✨

okay so by default, the output shall be a single line of the following form:

"%s\n", <sysname>

and if the -a option is specified, the output shall be a single line of the following form:

"%s %s %s %s %s\n", <sysname>, <nodename>, <release>,
    <version>, <machine>

additional implementation-defined symbols may be written; all such symbols shall be written at the end of the line of output before the <newline>. 🌈

if options are specified to select different combinations of the symbols, only those symbols shall be written, in the order shown above for the -a option. and if a symbol is not selected for writing, its corresponding trailing <blank> characters also shall not be written. no ghost spaces, we do not tolerate ghost spaces ✨

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✨ STDERR ✨

The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages. it's for the drama only 💀

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✨ OUTPUT FILES ✨

None. 🦋

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✨ EXTENDED DESCRIPTION ✨

None. girl it's uname, it's not that deep 😭

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✨ EXIT STATUS ✨

The following exit values shall be returned:

• 0 — the requested information was successfully written. slay, we ate 🎀
• >0 — an error occurred. oop 🙈

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✨ CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS ✨

Default.

The following sections are informative. (aka: the rest of this is context, not requirements — but still worth reading bestie, iykyk 💜)

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✨ APPLICATION USAGE ✨

note that any of the symbols could include embedded <space> characters, which may affect parsing algorithms if multiple options are selected for output. ⚠️ so if you're splitting on spaces, bestie... be careful, fr fr

the node name is typically a name that the system uses to identify itself for inter-system communication addressing. 📡

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✨ EXAMPLES ✨

The following command:

uname -sr

writes the operating system name and release level, separated by one or more <blank> characters. cute, right? two little facts, one line, no notes 💅

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✨ RATIONALE ✨

so apparently it was suggested that this utility cannot be used portably since the format of the symbols is implementation-defined. 😬 the POSIX.1 working group could not achieve consensus on defining these formats in the underlying uname() function, and there was no expectation that this volume of POSIX.1‐2017 would be any more successful. the group chat could not reach agreement, periodt.

some applications may still find this historical utility of value. for example, the symbols could be used for system log entries or for comparison with operator or user input. so like... it's an icon, it's a legend, it's just not a standardised one 💖

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✨ FUTURE DIRECTIONS ✨

None. 🔮

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✨ SEE ALSO ✨

• The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Chapter 8, Environment Variables, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines
• The System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1‐2017, uname()

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✨ COPYRIGHT ✨

Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .

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okay that's the whole page bestie, every last crumb, nothing skipped 🫶 and a lil sign-off for the girlies who read all the way to the bottom: this one comes to you from IEEE/The Open Group, 2017 — that's the source and the date, tucked right here at the end like a lil bow on top 🎀✨ love that for us. bye bestie, go run uname -a and feel something 💅🌸