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machine-version

machine-version Function

Syntax:

machine-version ⟨no arguments⟩ → description

Arguments and Values:

description—a string or nil.

Description:

Returns a string that identifies the version of the computer hardware on which Common Lisp is running, or nil if no such value can be computed.

Examples:

(machine-version) → "KL-10, microcode 9"

Affected By:

The machine version, and the implementation.

See Also:

machine-type, machine-instance

Expanded Reference: machine-version​

Basic Usage​

machine-version returns a string identifying the version of the hardware on which the Lisp implementation is running. The exact value is implementation-dependent.

(or (stringp (machine-version)) (null (machine-version)))
;; => T

Typical Return Values​

Some implementations return detailed CPU model strings, while others return simpler identifiers or NIL.

;; On SBCL (Linux), returns a CPU model string
;; On some implementations where version info is unavailable, returns NIL
(stringp (machine-version))
;; => impl-dependent

Gathering Full Machine Identity​

machine-version is most useful in combination with machine-type and machine-instance to build a complete picture of the execution environment.

(defun machine-info ()
  (list :instance (machine-instance)
        :type     (machine-type)
        :version  (machine-version)))

(listp (machine-info))
;; => T

Important Notes​

The return value is a string or NIL. The content and format of the string are entirely implementation-dependent. Some implementations may return the same value as machine-type or provide no additional detail beyond it.