The latest CentOS version is CentOS7 (version 7.7.1511)
However, here are the others CentOS version under support:
CentOS 6 (version 6.6.8) End Of Life (EOL) CentOS
CentOS 5 — version 5.5.11 –> 31st March 2017
CentOS 4 — version 4.4.9 –> 29th February 2012
8 Ways to Check CentOS Version
You should be aware that the CentOS version is made up of three components before learning how to check it:
- Major Version: Major release version number
- Minor Version: Minor release version number
- Monthstamp: codebase month and year timestamp
1. /etc/centos-release file
The file specifically for CentOS contains information on the release and version of CentOS.
[[email protected] ~]# cat /etc/centos-releaseCentOS Linux release 8.1.1911 (Core)[[email protected] ~]# |
- Major Version: 8
- Minor Version: 1
- Monthstamp: 1911 i.e. November 2019.
2. /etc/system-release file
This file also contains the same information as the centos-release file.
[[email protected] ~]# cat /etc/system-releaseCentOS Linux release 8.1.1911 (Core)[[email protected] ~]# |
3. /etc/os-release file
This file contains the Linux OS information. So, this file contains the major version number.
[[email protected] ~]# cat /etc/os-releaseNAME="CentOS Linux"VERSION="8 (Core)"ID="centos"ID_LIKE="rhel fedora"VERSION_ID="8"PLATFORM_ID="platform:el8"PRETTY_NAME="CentOS Linux 8 (Core)"ANSI_COLOR="0;31"CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:centos:centos:8"HOME_URL="https://www.centos.org/"BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.centos.org/"CENTOS_MANTISBT_PROJECT="CentOS-8"CENTOS_MANTISBT_PROJECT_VERSION="8"REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="centos"REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION="8"[[email protected] ~]# |
4. /etc/redhat-release file
CentOS is built on top of RedHat Linux distribution. Besides, this file contains the same information as the centos-release file.
[[email protected] ~]# cat /etc/redhat-releaseCentOS Linux release 8.1.1911 (Core)[[email protected] ~]# |
5. lsb_release command
This command doesn’t come pre-installed with the CentOS server. However, you can install it using the following command.
[[email protected] ~]# yum install redhat-lsb |
Then, check the CentOS version using the following command.
[[email protected] ~]# lsb_release -dDescription: CentOS Linux release 8.1.1911 (Core)[[email protected] ~]# |
6. rpm query
Besides using the command above, we can query the rpm package manager to get the CentOS version information.
[[email protected] ~]# rpm -q centos-releasecentos-release-8.1-1.1911.0.8.el8.x86_64[[email protected] ~]# |
7. rpm macro
Here is a simple rpm macro evaluation to get the CentOS major version.
8. hostnamectl command
Next, the hostnamectl command can be used to get the system information. Also, it reveals the Operating System version.
[[email protected] ~]# hostnamectl Static hostname: localhost.localdomainTransient hostname: li1176-240.members.linode.com Icon name: computer-vm Chassis: vm Machine ID: c2a4bfa7e0c74457b3a978656ab959e8 Boot ID: c89bae2d3ec7493987a455bfa15e4818 Virtualization: kvm Operating System: CentOS Linux 7 (Core) CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:centos:centos:7 Kernel: Linux 3.10.0-1062.12.1.el7.x86_64 Architecture: x86-64[[email protected] ~]#[[email protected] ~]#[[email protected] ~]# hostnamectl | grep "Operating System" Operating System: CentOS Linux 7 (Core)[[email protected] ~]# |
In Docker containers, the hostnamectl command is inoperable. My personal VPS machine produced this command output. The other scripts’ output comes from a CentOS 8 Docker container that is local to me.
