FREEBSD-VERSION(1)      FreeBSD General Commands Manual     FREEBSD-VERSION(1)

NAME
     freebsd-version - print the version and patch level of the installed
     system

SYNOPSIS
     freebsd-version [-kru] [-j jail]

DESCRIPTION
     The freebsd-version utility makes a best effort to determine the version
     and patch level of the installed kernel and / or userland.

     The following options are available:

     -k          Print the version and patch level of the installed kernel.
                 Unlike uname(1), if a new kernel has been installed but the
                 system has not yet rebooted, freebsd-version will print the
                 version and patch level of the new kernel.

     -r          Print the version and patch level of the running kernel.
                 Unlike uname(1), this is unaffected by environment variables.

     -u          Print the version and patch level of the installed userland.
                 These are hardcoded into freebsd-version during the build.

     -j jail     Print the version and patch level of the installed userland
                 in the given jail specified by jid or name.  This option can
                 be specified multiple times.

     If several of the above options are specified, freebsd-version will print
     the installed kernel version first, then the running kernel version, next
     the userland version, and finally the userland version of the specified
     jails, on separate lines.  If neither is specified, it will print the
     userland version only.

IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
     The freebsd-version utility should provide the correct answer in the vast
     majority of cases, including on systems kept up-to-date using
     freebsd-update(8), which does not update the kernel version unless the
     kernel itself was affected by the latest patch.

     To determine the name (and hence the location) of a custom kernel, the
     freebsd-version utility will attempt to parse /boot/defaults/loader.conf
     and /boot/loader.conf, looking for definitions of the kernel and bootfile
     variables, both with a default value of "kernel".  It may however fail to
     locate the correct kernel if either or both of these variables are
     defined in a non-standard location, such as in /boot/loader.rc.

ENVIRONMENT
     ROOT  Path to the root of the filesystem in which to look for loader.conf
           and the kernel.

EXAMPLES
     To determine the version of the currently running userland:

           /bin/freebsd-version -u

     To inspect a system being repaired using a live CD:

           mount -rt ufs /dev/ada0p2 /mnt
           env ROOT=/mnt /mnt/bin/freebsd-version -ku

SEE ALSO
     uname(1), loader.conf(5)

HISTORY
     The freebsd-version command appeared in FreeBSD 10.0.

AUTHORS
     The freebsd-version utility and this manual page were written by
     Dag-Erling Sm/rgrav <des@FreeBSD.org>.

FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6         October 1, 2021        FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6