From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Oct 9 17:43:58 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C3912106569B for ; Thu, 9 Oct 2008 17:43:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dougb@FreeBSD.org) Received: from mail2.fluidhosting.com (mx24.fluidhosting.com [204.14.89.7]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5C9838FC23 for ; Thu, 9 Oct 2008 17:43:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dougb@FreeBSD.org) Received: (qmail 26628 invoked by uid 399); 9 Oct 2008 17:43:58 -0000 Received: from localhost (HELO lap.dougb.net) (dougb@dougbarton.us@127.0.0.1) by localhost with ESMTPAM; 9 Oct 2008 17:43:58 -0000 X-Originating-IP: 127.0.0.1 X-Sender: dougb@dougbarton.us Message-ID: <48EE42DC.9090202@FreeBSD.org> Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:43:56 -0700 From: Doug Barton Organization: http://www.FreeBSD.org/ User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.16 (X11/20080726) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Kevin Oberman References: <20081007224422.5388D4500F@ptavv.es.net> In-Reply-To: <20081007224422.5388D4500F@ptavv.es.net> X-Enigmail-Version: 0.95.7 OpenPGP: id=D5B2F0FB Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org, Jeremy Chadwick , Robert Watson , xer xernet Subject: Re: stable 7.0 and nslookup help command X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:43:58 -0000 Kevin Oberman wrote: > More importantly, dig(1) uses the standard resolver routines while > nslookup has its own. Actually you have that backwards. :) dig generates a raw dns request packet and sends it out on the wire itself, more or less acting as if it were an actual name server. Therefore if you are trying to debug problems with a name server it is the better choice. host uses the name servers in /etc/resolv.conf and more or less acts as a local stub resolver. It's a good choice if you just want to get the answer to "what does resolve to?" It's also a good tool for debugging what's happening when an application on your system is getting an answer other than the one you think it should get. nslookup actually uses the local stub resolver, and has the benefit of having been around a long time so it's something people know. It's also a good tool to debug the local stub resolver if you're getting an answer other than what you think you should be getting, and/or different from what dig/host say. hth, Doug -- This .signature sanitized for your protection