How can I check the SBT version? - sbt

Question

How do I check which version of SBT I'm running?
I have the Bash file set up that uses sbt-launch.jar, and it works, but
sbt version
only shows the "project version" (0.1) and
sbt --version
does nothing.

Answer 1

sbt --version
It now works as of version 1.3.3+ (credit to #ElectronWill).
You may also want to use sbt about that (copying Mark Harrah's comment):
The about command was added recently to try to succinctly print the
most relevant information, including the sbt version.

Answer 2

Type "sbt about" and then Enter to get the SBT version:

Answer 3

Running the command, "sbt sbt-version" will simply output your current directory and the version number.
$ sbt sbt-version
[info] Set current project to spark (in build file:/home/morgan/code/spark/)
[info] 0.13.8

Answer 4

In SBT 0.13 and above, you can use the sbtVersion task (as pointed out by #steffen) or about command (as pointed out by #mark-harrah)
There's a difference how the sbtVersion task works in and outside a SBT project. When in a SBT project, sbtVersion displays the version of SBT used by the project and its subprojects.
$ sbt sbtVersion
[info] Loading global plugins from /Users/jacek/.sbt/0.13/plugins
[info] Updating {file:/Users/jacek/.sbt/0.13/plugins/}global-plugins...
[info] Resolving org.fusesource.jansi#jansi;1.4 ...
[info] Done updating.
[info] Loading project definition from /Users/jacek/oss/scalania/project
[info] Set current project to scalania (in build file:/Users/jacek/oss/scalania/)
[info] exercises/*:sbtVersion
[info] 0.13.1-RC5
[info] scalania/*:sbtVersion
[info] 0.13.1-RC5
It's set in project/build.properties:
jacek:~/oss/scalania
$ cat project/build.properties
sbt.version=0.13.1-RC5
The same task executed outside a SBT project shows the current version of the executable itself.
jacek:~
$ sbt sbtVersion
[info] Loading global plugins from /Users/jacek/.sbt/0.13/plugins
[info] Updating {file:/Users/jacek/.sbt/0.13/plugins/}global-plugins...
[info] Resolving org.fusesource.jansi#jansi;1.4 ...
[info] Done updating.
[info] Set current project to jacek (in build file:/Users/jacek/)
[info] 0.13.0
When you're outside, the about command seems to be a better fit as it shows the sbt version as well as Scala's and available plugins.
jacek:~
$ sbt about
[info] Loading global plugins from /Users/jacek/.sbt/0.13/plugins
[info] Set current project to jacek (in build file:/Users/jacek/)
[info] This is sbt 0.13.0
[info] The current project is {file:/Users/jacek/}jacek 0.1-SNAPSHOT
[info] The current project is built against Scala 2.10.2
[info] Available Plugins: com.typesafe.sbt.SbtGit, com.typesafe.sbt.SbtProguard, growl.GrowlingTests, org.sbtidea.SbtIdeaPlugin, com.timushev.sbt.updates.UpdatesPlugin
[info] sbt, sbt plugins, and build definitions are using Scala 2.10.2
You may want to run 'help about' to read its documentation:
jacek:~
$ sbt 'help about'
[info] Loading global plugins from /Users/jacek/.sbt/0.13/plugins
[info] Set current project to jacek (in build file:/Users/jacek/)
Displays basic information about sbt and the build.
For the sbtVersion setting, the inspect command can help.
$ sbt 'inspect sbtVersion'
[info] Loading global plugins from /Users/jacek/.sbt/0.13/plugins
[info] Set current project to jacek (in build file:/Users/jacek/)
[info] Setting: java.lang.String = 0.13.0
[info] Description:
[info] Provides the version of sbt. This setting should be not be modified.
[info] Provided by:
[info] */*:sbtVersion
[info] Defined at:
[info] (sbt.Defaults) Defaults.scala:67
[info] Delegates:
[info] *:sbtVersion
[info] {.}/*:sbtVersion
[info] */*:sbtVersion
[info] Related:
[info] */*:sbtVersion
The version setting that people seem to expect to inspect to know the SBT version is to set The version/revision of the current module.
$ sbt 'inspect version'
[info] Loading global plugins from /Users/jacek/.sbt/0.13/plugins
[info] Set current project to jacek (in build file:/Users/jacek/)
[info] Setting: java.lang.String = 0.1-SNAPSHOT
[info] Description:
[info] The version/revision of the current module.
[info] Provided by:
[info] */*:version
[info] Defined at:
[info] (sbt.Defaults) Defaults.scala:102
[info] Reverse dependencies:
[info] *:projectId
[info] *:isSnapshot
[info] Delegates:
[info] *:version
[info] {.}/*:version
[info] */*:version
[info] Related:
[info] */*:version
When used in a SBT project the tasks/settings may show different outputs.

Answer 5

You can use sbt about
Example:
C:\Users\smala>sbt about
[info] Set current project to smala (in build file:/C:/Users/smala/)
[info] This is sbt 0.13.6
[info] The current project is {file:/C:/Users/smala/}smala 0.1-SNAPSHOT
[info] The current project is built against Scala 2.10.4
[info] Available Plugins: sbt.plugins.IvyPlugin, sbt.plugins.JvmPlugin, sbt.plugins.CorePlugin, sbt.plugins.JUnitXmlReportPlugin
[info] sbt, sbt plugins, and build definitions are using Scala 2.10.4"

Answer 6

Recent versions of SBT finally support a standard --version flag!
$ sbt --version
sbt version in this project: 1.6.2
sbt script version: 1.6.2
(tested with 1.6+, but it seems that it has existed since at least 1.3.3)

Answer 7

From within the sbt shell
sbt:venkat> about
[info] This is sbt 1.3.3
...

Answer 8

What happens when you run sbt from the command line might have changed a bit over the 9 years since the question was originally posted.
Today, you will always be interacting with at least two "versions":
the launcher script (e.g. /usr/local/bin/sbt) version.[1] Check with sbt --script-version.
the default SBT version (=sbt-launcher JAR version), decided primarily by the project SBT version (in project/build.properties), secondarily by the launcher script itself. Check with sbt --script-version (or sbtVersion in the SBT shell)
Fortunately, in most day-to-day scenarios, the project SBT version is the only one that you need to be aware of.
1
It used to be just java -jar sbt-launcher.jar, then there was/is sbt-extras/sbt (aka "rebel cut"), then there was the "official" sbt script but in a separate github project called sbt-launcher-packaging (now archived). Today, the default script sits in the root folder of the sbt/sbt GH project and is generally the only version you need to worry about.

Answer 9

Run the SBT console and then type sbtVersion to check the SBT version, and scalaVersion for the Scala runtime version.

Answer 10

Doing sbt sbt-version led to some error as
[error] Not a valid command: sbt-version (similar: writeSbtVersion, session)
[error] Not a valid project ID: sbt-version
[error] Expected ':'
[error] Not a valid key: sbt-version (similar: sbtVersion, version, sbtBinaryVersion)
[error] sbt-version
[error] ^
As you can see the hint similar: sbtVersion, version, sbtBinaryVersion, all of them work but the correct one is generated by sbt sbtVersion