I figured something out that succeeded in making the hostname
constant, and it allows me to run the socket programs without error.
I'm posting what I did for future seekers. This is for mac os 10.4.7:
1) In System Preferences>Sharing, there is a name entered there:
Computer Name: John Smiths computer
But underneath that is this text:
Other computers on your local subnet can access your
computer at John-Smiths-computer.local
Copy the name John-Smiths-computer.local exactly as written. Notice
the added dashes and the extension. If you want, you can change the
name by entering something else in the text box to the right of
"Computer Name:". Then if you click outside the text box elsewhere to
move the focus away from the text box, the text underneath the text
box will update with the new name, and that is the exact name you need
to use for step 2.
2) In the file /etc/hostconfig, at the bottom I added the line:
HOSTNAME=John-Smiths-computer.local
The name entered there has to be the exact same name as the name in
step 1.
The hostconfig file is read only unless you are logged in using the
root account(which you are never supposed to do). In any case, you
can use the sudo command to momentarily become the superuser, which
will enable you to edit hostcofig. If you are logged in as the root
account, then you'll be able to edit hostconfig without having to use
the sudo command.
I used the cd command to change directories to /etc:
$ cd /etc
Then I used vi to edit the hostconfig file
$ sudo vi hostconfig
Hold your breath because you don't want to mess anything up when you
have root privileges, although I don't think you can get in much
trouble while editing a text file. Then save the file.
3) Restart your computer. I think there must be a way to reload the
hostconfig file with out having to restart, but I couldn't figure out
which command to use to accomplish that. After restarting, the
hostname part of my prompt in Terminal stayed constant whether I was
connected to the internet or not. And I could run the socket programs
in my original post using gethostname()--whether I was connected to
the internet or not.
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