To find the version of the Gnome desktop, you simply have to run the following command:
gnome-shell --version
You should get some output that looks like this:
[email protected]:~$ gnome-shell --version GNOME Shell 3.4.1
Chris May 3rd, 2012
Posted In: How To
Tags: Gnome, gnome-shell, gnome3, the Gnome desktop, version