Kernel application binary interface

Now, let's do a quick, simple task with a command to find out which kernel we are running. The command can serve as a first-level "diagnostic" tool when we need to troubleshoot errors or incompatibilities with any software we want to add or compile for our system.

Getting ready

This is a simple setup, so all you need to do is connect your board via USB to your host computer and fire it up. Then, open a terminal window.

How to do it...

The steps to do this are simple:

1. Firstly, log in as the root user using the following command:

   $ sudo -i
   

2. Now, run a command that tells us a few important things about the kernel. Let's choose the -a option to show all information about the system, as follows:

   root@beaglebone:~# uname -a
   Linux beaglebone 3.8.13-bone67 #1 SMP Wed Sep 24 01:36:09 UTC 2014 armv7l GNU/Linux
   

   From this command's output, we discover several items of interest, as follows:

   The kernel version: According to our output, the installed version of the Linux kernel...