Best way to find if OS is 32 or 64 bit?

[patrick_jones]

Hi,

Which of these is the accurate way of determining if the OS (not the cpu) is 32 or 64 bit?

uname -a | grep "x86_64" => $? = 0 implies 64bit

uname -p | grep "x86_64" => $? = 0 implies 64bit

getconf LONG_BIT (returns 32 or 64)

Thanks

[nmset]

Could you consider

file /bin/bash

?

[Irithori]

uname -m works for me

[patrick_jones]

@nmset

Is that guranteed to give the correct result? Also this method would require to parse the output. I am looking for some command which gives direct result without having to parse a text.

[patrick_jones]

@Irithori

Everytime I see the manpage for uname, I get more confused.

What is the difference between uname -m and uname -i. They seem like they are information regarding machine hardware. Not sure how it is related to the OS that is installed on the machine. Please can you explain.

Thanks

[nmset]

There are certainly many ways to get to what you are looking for.

The reasoning behind the using the file command on the bash binary is that you're doing it in a bash session originating from the very binary you're testing, and there's not much parsing to do

file /bin/bash | grep -c "64-bit"

will give you 0 or 1.

uname -m

is more direct however.

[rokytnji]

Easy way

INXI Script

I have it installed from Puppy Linux to Ubuntu.

ystem:    Host owner-desktop Kernel 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64 (64 bit) Distro Ubuntu 10.04 lucid
CPU:       Dual core AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (SMP) cache 1024 KB flags (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 svm) bmips 8799.08 
           Clock Speeds: (1) 2199.774 MHz (2) 2199.774 MHz
Graphics:  Card nVidia G71 [GeForce 7900 GS] X.Org 1.7.6 Res: 1024x768@50.0hz 
           GLX Renderer GeForce 7900 GS/PCI/SSE2 GLX Version 2.1.2 NVIDIA 195.36.24 Direct Rendering Yes
Audio:     Card ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) driver HDA Intel BusID: 00:14.2
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Version 1.0.21
Network:   Card Realtek RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller driver r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI at port dc00 BusID: 02:00.0
Disks:     HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (4.4% used) 1: /dev/sda WDC_WD3200AAKS 320.1GB 
Partition: ID:/ size: 288G used: 14G (5%) fs: ext4 ID:swap-1 size: 6.17GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 49.0C mobo: 46.0C gpu: 0.0:66C 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 5400 psu: 0 sys-1: 1010 
Info:      Processes 168 Uptime 5:53 Memory 589.6/2008.5MB Runlevel 2 Client Shell inxi 1.4.10

~$ inxi -F
Resuming in non X mode: glxinfo not found in path
System:    Host Biker Kernel 2.6.32-1-mepis-smp i686 (32 bit) Distro antiX-core-686-a1 20 June 2010
CPU:       Single core Pentium III (Coppermine) (UP) cache 256 KB flags (sse) bmips 1396.28 clocked at 698.057 MHz 
Graphics:  Card ATI Rage Mobility P/M AGP 2x tty res: 80x24 
Audio:     Card ESS ES1988 Allegro-1 at port e800 BusID: 00:0a.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Version 1.0.21
Network:   Card Realtek RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ driver 8139too v: 0.9.28 at port e400 BusID: 00:09.0
Disks:     HDD Total Size: 30.0GB (5.4% used) 1: /dev/hda IC25N030ATCS04-0 30.0GB 
Partition: ID:/ size: 5.8G used: 1.3G (23%) fs: ext3 ID:swap-1 size: 0.58GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
Info:      Processes 69 Uptime 1:16 Memory 70.9/374.6MB Runlevel 5 Client Shell inxi 1.4.10

[patrick_jones]

Thank you nmset for the explanation. That makes sense.

Thank you all for the responses.