sysinfo

The whole machine on one screen.

Synopsis

sysinfo [-q | -v]

Description

When someone asks "what are you running?", the answer is spread over a dozen commands. hostnamectl, cat /etc/os-release, uname -r, lscpu, free -h, df -h /, uptime and ip addr each give one piece, in their own layout, with lines you do not need. sysinfo reads the same sources and prints one labelled line for each fact, short enough to paste into a bug report or a chat.

Line	Where it comes from
host	The host name, then the maker and model from `/sys/class/dmi/id`, then a VM or container type. Lenovo keeps the model name in `product_version`, so `sysinfo` reads it from there.
distro	`PRETTY_NAME` from `/etc/os-release`, or `/usr/lib/os-release`.
kernel	`/proc/sys/kernel/osrelease`, the same as `uname -r`.
cpu	The model name from `lscpu`, with `(R)`, `(TM)` and the clock speed taken out, then cores and threads.
ram	Total and used from `/proc/meminfo`, then zram swap and other swap from `/proc/swaps`.
disk	Size, filesystem and use of `/`, from `df` and `/proc/mounts`.
uptime	`/proc/uptime`, in days, hours and minutes.
ip	Each IPv4 address on a real network card, and the gateway on the card with the default route.
pkg	Every package manager it finds: apt, dnf, pacman, zypper, apk, then flatpak, snap, nix and brew.
init	The name of process 1, and the systemd version when that is systemd.
session	The desktop and whether it runs on Wayland or X11, or how you are logged in when there is no desktop.

The ip line leaves out loopback, docker bridges, veth pairs and VPN tunnels. It keeps a card only when it has a device in /sys/class/net/NAME/device, which only real and virtual hardware has, or when it carries the default route. That is why a laptop with docker shows one line and not six.

The host line says virtual machine, kvm or container, docker when systemd-detect-virt says so. Without systemd it looks for /.dockerenv and /run/.containerenv. Makers leave placeholder text such as To Be Filled By O.E.M. or System Product Name in the DMI fields, and sysinfo drops those.

Every source is optional. When a file cannot be read or a tool is missing, that line falls back or is left out, and the rest still prints. That makes sysinfo work in a minimal container, in a chroot and on Alpine.

sysinfo only reads. It needs no root and changes nothing.

Options

Option	What it does
`-q`, `--quiet`	One line with host, distro, kernel, short CPU name, RAM and uptime.
`-v`, `--verbose`	Show each file it reads and each command it runs, in order, before its line.
`-h`, `--help`	Show the help.

The labels are bold in a terminal and plain in a file or pipe, or when NO_COLOR is set.

Per-distro notes

Debian and Ubuntu: Everything works on a desktop or server install. The debian and ubuntu container images have neither ip nor lscpu, so the ip line says so and the cpu line comes from /proc/cpuinfo.
Fedora: The ram line usually shows zram swap, which Fedora sets up at install.
Arch: iproute2 and util-linux come with the base install, so every line shows.
Alpine: BusyBox gives df and a small ip. Install util-linux or lscpu for the cleaner CPU name, and iproute2 for the ip line. The init line shows init, since Alpine uses OpenRC and not systemd.
Raspberry Pi and other ARM boards: /proc/cpuinfo has no model name, so the cpu line uses the Hardware field when lscpu gives no name.

Needs

/proc and /sys, which every Linux system has. The rest adds lines and is optional.

Tool	Package	Adds
`lscpu`	`util-linux`, or `lscpu` on Alpine	Cores per socket. Without it, `/proc/cpuinfo` gives the model and counts.
`ip`	`iproute2`, or `iproute` on Fedora	The ip line. Without it, the line says so.
`df`	`coreutils`	The disk line.
`systemd-detect-virt`	`systemd`	The VM and container type.
`systemctl`	`systemd`	The systemd version on the init line.

Examples

A virtual machine

$ sysinfo
host     debian, QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), virtual machine, kvm
distro   Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)
kernel   6.12.107+deb13-amd64
cpu      12th Gen Intel Core i3-12100, 2 cores, 4 threads
ram      7.7GB, 4.9GB used, swap 5.9GB
disk     /  48GB ext4, 43GB used (95%)
uptime   17 hours, 11 minutes
ip       192.168.122.210/24 on enp2s0, gateway 192.168.122.1
pkg      apt
init     systemd 257
session  Cinnamon on X11

A laptop with zram

$ sysinfo
host     km-laptop, Lenovo ThinkPad T480
distro   Fedora Linux 44 (Workstation Edition)
kernel   6.19.8-200.fc44.x86_64
cpu      Intel Core i5-8250U, 4 cores, 8 threads
ram      7.6GB, 5.2GB used, zram swap 7.6GB
disk     /  237GB btrfs, 214GB used (90%)
uptime   3 days, 6 hours
ip       192.168.1.24/24 on wlp3s0, gateway 192.168.1.1
pkg      dnf, flatpak
init     systemd 258
session  GNOME on Wayland

One line

$ sysinfo -q
debian  Debian 13  6.12.107+deb13-amd64  i3-12100  7.7GB  up 17h 11m

Inside a container

$ sysinfo
host     km-laptop, container, docker
distro   Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)
kernel   6.12.107+deb13-amd64
cpu      Intel Core i5-8250U, 4 cores, 8 threads
ram      7.6GB, 5.2GB used, no swap
uptime   3 days, 6 hours
ip       unknown, the ip command is not installed
init     bash
session  none, text console

A container shares the host's kernel, CPU and RAM, so those lines describe the host. The disk line is missing because the image has no df.

See where each line comes from

$ sysinfo -v 2>&1 | head -8
+ cat /proc/sys/kernel/hostname
+ cat /sys/class/dmi/id/sys_vendor
+ cat /sys/class/dmi/id/product_name
+ cat /sys/class/dmi/id/product_version
+ systemd-detect-virt -c
+ systemd-detect-virt -v
host     debian, QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), virtual machine, kvm
distro   Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)

Keep it for a bug report

$ sysinfo > machine.txt

The file has no bold codes, since the output is not a terminal.

Troubleshooting

The host line has no model: The machine has no DMI table, as on a Raspberry Pi and most ARM boards, or the maker left placeholders. The host name still shows.
The ip line says none, no network card has an IPv4 address: The machine has only IPv6, or the network is down. Check with ip addr.
The distro line says only Linux: /etc/os-release and /usr/lib/os-release are both missing, as in some minimal images.
The session line says none, logged in over ssh on a desktop: The desktop's variables are not passed to ssh sessions. That line describes the shell you run sysinfo from.

Exit status

Code	Meaning
0	It worked, even when some lines were left out.
2	Bad usage, such as an argument.