LSB\_RELEASE(1) User Commands LSB\_RELEASE(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

lsb\_release - print distribution-specific information (minimal implementation).

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**lsb\_release** *\[options]*

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

This is a bare-bones version of the **lsb\_release** command, implemented as a tiny POSIX shell script (less than 100 lines of commented code).

Instead of using LSB packages, this version of **lsb\_release** uses the information in */etc/os-release* and */usr/lib/os-release*. Nevertheless, the output of this version is byte-for-byte compatible with the Python-based version provided by Debian and its derivatives.

Using this implementation it is possible to avoid installing Python in a base OS image while still retaining compatibility with older scripts that expect **lsb\_release** to exist.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

The program follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes ("--"). A summary of options are included below.

[**-h**, **--help**](#h)

Show a help message with a list of options and exit.

[**-v**, **--version**](#v)

Show LSB modules this system supports.

[**-i**, **--id**](#i)

Show distributor ID.

[**-d**, **--description**](#d)

Show description of this distribution.

[**-r**, **--release**](#r)

Show release number of this distribution.

[**-c**, **--codename**](#c)

Show code name of this distribution.

[**-a**, **--all**](#a)

Show all of the above information.

[**-s**, **--short**](#s)

Show requested information in short format.

# [FILES](#FILES)

*/usr/lib/os-release*

Distribution-provided file with operating system identification data.

*/etc/os-release*

Machine-specific file with operating system identification data. If present, */etc/os-release* is read instead of */usr/lib/os-release*.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**os-release**(5)](/man/os/lsb-release-minimal/os-release.5)

# [AUTHOR](#AUTHOR)

Gioele Barabucci <https://gioele.io>

# [LICENSE](#LICENSE)

This implementation of **lsb\_release** is free software released under the terms of the ISC license.

2026-10-10 lsb\_release 12.1

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Document: lsb_release(1) from lsb-release-minimal 12.1-r8 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://salsa.debian.org/gioele/lsb-release-minimal