From owner-freebsd-questions  Fri May  3  2:39:17 2002
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From: "Patrick O'Reilly" <bsd@perimeter.co.za>
To: "Byron Schlemmer" <me@byron.me.uk>,
	<freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
References: <20020503100414.2ca1b66d.me@byron.me.uk>
Subject: Re: /etc/hosts
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 11:36:54 +0200
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Byron Schlemmer" <me@byron.me.uk>

> Hi folks,
>
> I'm sure this is a trivial question however I'm struggling
> to find a definative answer, maybe I'm not looking hard
> enough. /etc/hosts, does it resolve names to IPs, IPs to
> names, or both? Does gethostbyname() and gethostbyaddr()
> both query /etc/hosts? Does it just depend on the
> application.

Byron,

it does both.  When/how it is used depends on /etc/host.conf, and
sometimes on the application.

I would guess that gethostbyname() and gethostbyaddr() will use
/etc/hosts depending on how /etc/host.conf is set.

But, "applications" like 'host' and 'nslookup' are dns specific, so they
will _NOT_ look at /etc/hosts.

I speak under correction, but this is my understanding :)

Regards,
Patrick O'Reilly.
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