uname (2)





NAME

       uname - get name and information about current kernel


SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/utsname.h>

       int uname(struct utsname *buf);


DESCRIPTION

       uname  returns  system  information in the structure pointed to by buf.
       The utsname struct is defined in <sys/utsname.h>:
              struct utsname {
                      char sysname[];
                      char nodename[];
                      char release[];
                      char version[];
                      char machine[];
              #ifdef _GNU_SOURCE
                      char domainname[];
              #endif
              };
       The length of the arrays in a struct utsname is unspecified; the fields
       are NUL-terminated.


RETURN VALUE

       On  success,  zero is returned.  On error, -1 is returned, and errno is
       set appropriately.


ERRORS

       EFAULT buf is not valid.


CONFORMING TO

       SVr4, SVID, POSIX, X/OPEN.  There is no uname call in BSD 4.3.

       The domainname member (the NIS or YP domain name) is a GNU extension.


NOTES

       This is a system call, and the operating system  presumably  knows  its
       name, release and version. It also knows what hardware it runs on.  So,
       four of the fields of the struct are meaningful.  On  the  other  hand,
       the  field  nodename  is  meaningless: it gives the name of the present
       machine in some undefined network, but typically machines are  in  more
       than  one  network  and have several names. Moreover, the kernel has no
       way of knowing about such things, so it has to be told what  to  answer
       here.  The same holds for the additional domainname field.

       To  this  end Linux uses the system calls sethostname(2) and setdomain-
       name(2).  Note that there is no standard that says  that  the  hostname
       set  by  sethostname(2) is the same string as the nodename field of the
       struct returned by uname (indeed, some systems allow a  256-byte  host-
       name and an 8-byte nodename), but this is true on Linux. The same holds
       for setdomainname(2) and the domainname field.

       The length of the fields in the struct varies. Some  operating  systems
       or  libraries  use  a hardcoded 9 or 33 or 65 or 257. Other systems use
       /proc/sys/kernel/{ostype, hostname, osrelease, version, domainname}.


SEE ALSO

       uname(1), getdomainname(2), gethostname(2)

Linux 2.5.0                       2001-12-15                          uname(2)