Information about /etc/host.conf

[Sam Morris]

On Tue, 05 Dec 2006 14:01:21 +0100, Xan wrote:
> I searched information (and I not found) about the structure of 
> /etc/host.conf, /etc/hosts and /etc/resolv.conf
> 
> I know that the structure of host.conf determines the order in which 
> system resolves the domain names, and /etc/hosts and /etc/resolv.conf 
> are the configurations about the hosts file and the dns resolvers.

N.B., I *think* that host.conf is only used by really old code (libc5?).
The GNU C Library (glibc, libc6) uses /etc/nsswitch.conf for this purpose.

See the glibc manual for more information:
<ttp://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_node/Name-Service-Switch.html#Name-Service-Switch>.
This can also be accessed by running 'info libc', accessing 'info:(libc)'
in Yelp, or through the info2www program.

In general I would try to use real manuals, such as the glibc manual,
rather than individual man pages. The man pages often contain out-of-date
and/or misleading information, and they are designed more for
quick-reference rather than for gaining an idea of how a whole
program/system functions.

-- 
Sam Morris
http://robots.org.uk/

PGP key id 1024D/5EA01078
3412 EA18 1277 354B 991B  C869 B219 7FDB 5EA0 1078