# Amazon Linux Specific
<a name="ident-amazon-linux-specific"></a>

 There are some files that are specific to Amazon Linux that can be used for identifying Amazon Linux and what version it is. New code should use the [`/etc/os-release`](ident-os-release.md) standard in order to be cross-distribution compatible. Use of any Amazon Linux specific files is discouraged. 

**Topics**
+ [The `/etc/system-release` file](#ident-system-release)
+ [Image identification file](#ident-image-id-file)
+ [Examples of Amazon Linux Specific files](#ident-version-examples)

## The `/etc/system-release` file
<a name="ident-system-release"></a>

 Amazon Linux contains an `/etc/system-release` file that specifies the current release that is installed. This file is updated using package managers and on Amazon Linux is part of the `system-release` package. While some other distributions like Fedora also have this file, it is not present in Debian-based distributions like Ubuntu. 

**Note**  
 The `/etc/system-release` file contains a human-readable string and should not be used programmatically to identify an OS or release. Use the machine-readable fields in `/etc/os-release` (or `/usr/lib/os-release` if `/etc/os-release` does not exist) instead. 

 Amazon Linux also contains a machine-readable version of `/etc/system-release` that follows the Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) specification in the `/etc/system-release-cpe` file. 

## Image identification file
<a name="ident-image-id-file"></a>

 Each Amazon Linux image contains a unique `/etc/image-id` file that provides additional information about the original image as generated by the Amazon Linux team. This file is specific to Amazon Linux and is not found in other Linux distributions such as Debian, Ubuntu, or Fedora. This file contains the following information about the image: 
+ `image_name`, `image_version`, `image_arch` – Values from the build recipe that was used to construct the image.
+ `image_stamp` – A unique, random hex value generated during image creation.
+ `image_date` – The UTC time of image creation, in *YYYYMMDDhhmmss* format.
+ `recipe_name`, `recipe_id` – The name and ID of the build recipe used to construct the image.

## Examples of Amazon Linux Specific files
<a name="ident-version-examples"></a>

 The following sections provide examples of the Amazon Linux specific identification files for each major version of Amazon Linux. 

**Note**  
In any real-world code, `/usr/lib/os-release` should be used if the `/etc/os-release` file does not exist.

### AL2023
<a name="ident-image-id-amazon-linux-2023"></a>

The following examples show the identification files for AL2023.

Example of `/etc/image-id` for AL2023:

```
[ec2-user ~]$ cat /etc/image-id
```

```
image_name="al2023-container"
image_version="2023"
image_arch="x86_64"
image_file="al2023-container-2023.8.20250721.2-x86_64"
image_stamp="822b-1a9e"
image_date="20250719211531"
recipe_name="al2023 container"
recipe_id="89b25f7b-be82-2215-a8eb-6e63-0830-94ea-658d41c4"
```

Example of `/etc/system-release` for AL2023:

```
[ec2-user ~]$ cat /etc/system-release
```

```
Amazon Linux release 2023.8.20250721 (Amazon Linux)
```

### AL2
<a name="ident-image-id-amazon-linux-2"></a>

The following examples show the identification files for AL2.

Example of `/etc/image-id` for AL2:

```
[ec2-user ~]$ cat /etc/image-id
```

```
image_name="amzn2-container-raw"
image_version="2"
image_arch="x86_64"
image_file="amzn2-container-raw-2.0.20250721.2-x86_64"
image_stamp="4126-16ad"
image_date="20250721225801"
recipe_name="amzn2 container"
recipe_id="948422df-a4e6-5fc8-ba89-ef2e-0e1f-e1bb-16f84087"
```

Example of `/etc/system-release` for AL2:

```
[ec2-user ~]$ cat /etc/system-release
```

```
Amazon Linux release 2 (Karoo)
```

### Amazon Linux AMI
<a name="ident-image-id-amazon-linux-1"></a>

The following examples show the identification files for Amazon Linux AMI.

Example of `/etc/image-id` for Amazon Linux AMI:

```
[ec2-user ~]$ cat /etc/image-id
```

```
image_name="amzn-container-minimal"
image_version="2018.03"
image_arch="x86_64"
image_file="amzn-container-minimal-2018.03.0.20231218.0-x86_64"
image_stamp="407d-5ef3"
image_date="20231218203210"
recipe_name="amzn container"
recipe_id="b1e7635e-14e3-dd57-b1ab-7351-edd0-d9e0-ca6852ea"
```

Example of `/etc/system-release` for Amazon Linux AMI:

```
[ec2-user ~]$ cat /etc/system-release
```

```
Amazon Linux AMI release 2018.03
```