On Sat 28 Feb 2015 at 17:17:24 -0500, Philippe Clérié wrote: > I've read through some of that thread you pointed to and to be > honest, it's not at all clear what problem was being solved. I'm > still not entirely convinced it's useful. But it's easily dealt with > so... :-)
There is a long history behind this issue. What is compelling about the situation we have moved to is the claim in [1]: 127.0.0.1 localhost 127.0.1.1 <UNIX-hostname> in /etc/hosts works very well on many thousands of systems. This fits with my experience (although my machines do little of any complexity on the network). I have a dim recollection of what the default hosts file contained many years ago and struggling with it; I'd rather not abandon something which may not be perfect but which by and large gets the job done. >From the same source: That was in 2004. The problem that this was meant to solve was the fact that /etc/hosts is needed to play two different and mutually incompatible roles. It is needed to provide a _default_ address for the UNIX hostname (or other name) in case that name can't be resolved in any other way. And it is needed as a way of _overriding_ the results of other name resolution mechanisms. But according to the current design of glibc it is only possible for /etc/hosts to play one role or the other, not both. [1] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/netcfg/+bug/234543 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/01032015174054.15fbd74b4...@desktop.copernicus.demon.co.uk