Date: 22 Dec 2000 16:29:44 -0600 From: Tim Ayers <tayers@bridge.com> To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: /etc/hosts "official host name" Message-ID: <puikytrb.fsf@tim.bridge.com> In-Reply-To: Tim Ayers's message of "22 Dec 2000 08:07:20 -0600" References: <8zp835yf.fsf@tim.bridge.com>
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I apologize for not explaining myself in my first attempt at this
question. (The "/etc/hosts and including domains" thread.) Thanks to
the people that answered back. Now I'll try again.
I understand what /etc/hosts is for. I want to know why in the
/etc/hosts file, my machine is listed as "janis.quaday.com" instead of
just "janis". And why it has two different entries.
The original /etc/hosts file after a new install of FreeBSD-4.1.1
contains
127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.196.3 joan.quaday.com joan
192.168.196.3 joan.quaday.com.
Re-reading hosts(5) shows
For each host a single line should be present with the following
information:
Internet address
official host name
aliases
This is the only place where the name part of the specifier is
mentioned. I can believe "official host name" implies FQDN, since that
should be unique across the Internet and therefore arguably official,
but if anyone can expand on that, I'd appreciate it.
I also wonder why my /etc/hosts has a line like
192.168.196.3 janis.quaday.com.
I know 'named' likes to see that trailing "." so it knows that it has
a complete name, but then why is the name without the "." included?
And according to the hosts(5), "for each host a single line should be
present," but there are two lines for one host, which makes me even
more confused. Everything works, so this isn't important. I'm just
curious.
Thanks again and
Hope you have a very nice day, :-)
Tim Ayers (tayers@bridge.com)
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