UNAME(3P)                                           POSIX Programmer's Manual                                          UNAME(3P)



PROLOG
       This  manual  page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (con-
       sult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the  interface  may  not  be  implemented  on
       Linux.

NAME
       uname - get the name of the current system

SYNOPSIS
       #include <sys/utsname.h>

       int uname(struct utsname *name);


DESCRIPTION
       The uname() function shall store information identifying the current system in the structure pointed to by name.

       The uname() function uses the utsname structure defined in <sys/utsname.h>.

       The  uname() function shall return a string naming the current system in the character array sysname. Similarly, nodename
       shall contain the name of this node within an implementation-defined communications network. The arrays release and  ver-
       sion  shall  further  identify  the operating system. The array machine shall contain a name that identifies the hardware
       that the system is running on.

       The format of each member is implementation-defined.

RETURN VALUE
       Upon successful completion, a non-negative value shall be returned.  Otherwise, -1 shall be returned  and  errno  set  to
       indicate the error.

ERRORS
       No errors are defined.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES
       None.

APPLICATION USAGE
       The  inclusion  of the nodename member in this structure does not imply that it is sufficient information for interfacing
       to communications networks.

RATIONALE
       The values of the structure members are not  constrained  to  have  any  relation  to  the  version  of  this  volume  of
       IEEE Std 1003.1-2001  implemented  in  the  operating  system. An application should instead depend on _POSIX_VERSION and
       related constants defined in <unistd.h>.

       This volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not define the sizes of the members of the structure and permits them to  be  of
       different  sizes,  although  most  implementations define them all to be the same size: eight bytes plus one byte for the
       string terminator. That size for nodename is not enough for use with many networks.

       The uname() function originated in System III, System V, and related implementations, and it does not exist in Version  7
       or 4.3 BSD. The values it returns are set at system compile time in those historical implementations.

       4.3  BSD  has  gethostname()  and  gethostid(), which return a symbolic name and a numeric value, respectively. There are
       related sethostname() and sethostid() functions that are used to set the values the other two functions return. The  for-
       mer functions are included in this specification, the latter are not.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.

SEE ALSO
       The Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <sys/utsname.h>

COPYRIGHT
       Portions  of  this  text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for
       Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6,  Copy-
       right (C) 2001-2003 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.open-
       group.org/unix/online.html .



IEEE/The Open Group                                           2003                                                     UNAME(3P)