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From: j@uriah.heep.sax.de (J Wunsch)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Host name
Date: 27 Jun 1996 20:51:32 GMT
Organization: Private BSD site, Dresden
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Message-ID: <4qus8k$9p@uriah.heep.sax.de>
References: <4qfhju$bi5@uwm.edu> <4qk7ki$9hc@uriah.heep.sax.de>
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Reply-To: joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de (Joerg Wunsch)
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brian@awfulhak.demon.co.uk (Brian Somers) wrote:
> : > I'm having trouble with my host name accepted by the system. At boot
> : > time, I get a "BAD VALUE" message, and the mail daemon gives the
> : > message "My host name (myname.my.domain) doesn't seem to exist"
> : 127.0.0.1 localhost. myname.my.domain.
>
> : (Note the trailing dots.)
>
> You don't need the trailing dots - not in /etc/hosts.
You need'em. :-)
Apparently, sendmail, Apache etc. do call
gethostbyname("myname.my.domain.");
The trailing dot forces a shortcut into the root domain, bypassing all
domain search order walkdown when using DNS. However, when not using
DNS, a simple lookup in /etc/hosts is done, and if that name is not
found there, ``"myname.my.domain" does not exist''.
It's arguable whether this is a bug in the resolver library, but until
it has been fixed, adding the dot in /etc/hosts is a suitable
workaround. HOWEVER: you need both entries there, with and without
the dot!
--
cheers, J"org
joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de -- http://www.sax.de/~joerg/ -- NIC: JW11-RIPE
Never trust an operating system you don't have sources for. ;-)