UNAME(1POSIX)

📦 version 2017a, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 UNAME(1POSIX) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the POSIX Programmer's Manual 💅 this page lives in the UNAME(1POSIX) era of things, and before we even start — huge disclaimer energy:

🫶 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.

like. it might not even exist on your system. vibe check accordingly 😭

✨ NAME ✨

uname — return system name 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

uname [-amnrsv]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so, default behavior? she just writes the operating system name to standard output. that's it. that's the whole personality 🫶

when options are specified, symbols representing one or more system characteristics shall be written to the standard output. the format and contents of the symbols are implementation-defined (iykyk, nobody's pinning that down).

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 ✨

💅 OPTIONS 💅

the uname utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines. iconic behavior honestly.

the following options shall be supported:

  • -a — behave as though all of the options -mnrsv were specified. the whole buffet, no notes 👑
  • -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 no options are specified? the uname utility shall write the operating system name, as if the -s option had been specified. she defaults to her own name, main character energy fr fr 💅

🍓 OPERANDS 🍓

none. nothing. zero. empty plate 🍽️✨

🙈 STDIN 🙈

not used. she's not reading your messages bestie, sorry 😭

🧚 INPUT FILES 🧚

none 💜

🌸 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. she's the boss fr 👑
  • 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.

🦋 ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS 🦋

default. keeping it simple 💅

✨ STDOUT ✨

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

"%s\n", <sysname>

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 allowed bestie 🫶

💀 STDERR 💀

the standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages. only. exclusively. she's monogamous with stderr for that one purpose 💅

🎀 OUTPUT FILES 🎀

none 🌸

🌈 EXTENDED DESCRIPTION 🌈

none ⭐

🔥 EXIT STATUS 🔥

the following exit values shall be returned:

  • 0 — the requested information was successfully written. slay ✅
  • >0 — an error occurred. not slay 😭

💜 CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS 💜

default.

the following sections are informative.

🌸 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 like. watch out if you're splitting on whitespace, bestie, that's a trap 🙈

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

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

the following command:

uname -sr

writes the operating system name and release level, separated by one or more <blank> characters. chef's kiss 👑

🦋 RATIONALE 🦋

so 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. they said "we're not doing it" basically 😭

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. she's old but she still eats 💅

🧚 FUTURE DIRECTIONS 🧚

none 💜

💖 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()

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 .

and that's the whole page bestie 🫶 brought to you by the fine folks at IEEE / The Open Group, dated 2017, filed under UNAME(1POSIX) — go check your system name, it's literally one command away ✨🎀💅

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