From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jun 11 07:47:30 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DFD6A106566B for ; Mon, 11 Jun 2012 07:47:30 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from j.mckeown@ru.ac.za) Received: from mail.ru.ac.za (mail.ru.ac.za [IPv6:2001:4200:1010:0:250:56ff:fe8d:5]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F2B978FC12 for ; Mon, 11 Jun 2012 07:47:29 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=ru.ac.za; s=ru-msa; h=X-Authenticated-User:Message-Id:Content-Type:MIME-Version:Date:Subject:To:From; bh=vWjSzs9lFao3kR/O/YWzr8cUq7Irt1XOwnJx9OYl1O0=; b=aLB3JWbon5k8MQZPxdhJOdLts/hJou51Ld4B27PSd0f4Q2VxuqPaU+I7iDhqo8oz3HFV76gCwQ0+//3bAvSLmr+A0jxjS39X9D765VoRPBJEbWcHd0oplxJAYDW40CJB; Received: from vorkosigan.ru.ac.za ([2001:4200:1010:1058:219:d1ff:fe9f:a932]:52831) by mail.ru.ac.za with esmtpsa (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256) (Exim 4.76 (FreeBSD)) (envelope-from ) id 1SdzLT-000HyI-38 for freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org; Mon, 11 Jun 2012 09:47:27 +0200 From: Jonathan McKeown Organization: Rhodes University To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2012 09:47:26 +0200 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.10 References: <4FD0C1F4.2060108@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: X-Face: $@VrUx^RHy/}yu]jKf/<4T%/d|F+$j-Ol2"2J$q+%OK1]&/G_S9(=?utf-8?q?HkaQ*=60!=3FYOK=3FY!=27M=60C=0A=09aP=5C9nVPF8Q=7DCilHH8l=3B=7E!4?= =?utf-8?q?2HK6=273lg4J=7Daz?=@1Dqqh:J]M^"YPn*2IWrZON$1+G?oX3@ =?utf-8?q?k=230=0A=0954XDRg=3DYn=5FF-etwot4U=24b?=dTS{i X-Virus-Scanned: mail.ru.ac.za (2001:4200:1010:0:250:56ff:fe8d:5) X-Authenticated-User: s0900137 from vorkosigan.ru.ac.za (2001:4200:1010:1058:219:d1ff:fe9f:a932) using auth_plaintext Subject: Re: ifconfig accepting hostname as ipv4 address X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2012 07:47:31 -0000 On Saturday 09 June 2012 23:29:02 Kevin Oberman wrote: > On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 12:37 AM, Garrett Cooper wrot= e: > > > > =A0 =A0I agree that it's not the best configuration in the world, as it > > would only work 100% if a machine had proper DNS records or a > > definitive hosts file. > > =A0 =A0There are already enough bugs with static IP configurations and > > hostnames as-is *I'm looking at you mountlate* -- no sense to > > introduce more potentially buggy interoperability that only works in a > > handful of niche cases. > > The idea was that you could enter all of the local interface names in > /etc/hosts and than just put the names into the ifconfig commands. It > was handy for keeping track of what port connected where on systems > that had numerous interfaces, though this was more common in the day > of async serial lines and modems. > > I'll admit that I have mixed feelings about its practicality today, > though it does not hurt anything, as far as I can tell. It works fine as long as the machine has its own address in /etc/hosts - do= es=20 anyone not do that? Also, note that I'm not suggesting adding any functionality at all; just=20 replying to a suggestion that functionality be /removed/ - by pointing out= =20 that we find it useful and would rather not see it go. Jonathan