From owner-freebsd-questions Fri Dec 8 00:14:18 1995 Return-Path: owner-questions Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id AAA08033 for questions-outgoing; Fri, 8 Dec 1995 00:14:18 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost (vet.vet.purdue.edu [128.210.79.50]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) with SMTP id AAA08028 for ; Fri, 8 Dec 1995 00:14:10 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by localhost (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id DAA15693; Fri, 8 Dec 1995 03:13:55 -0500 Message-Id: <199512080813.DAA15693@localhost> X-Authentication-Warning: localhost.vet.purdue.edu: Host localhost didn't use HELO protocol X-Mailer: exmh version 1.6.4 10/10/95 To: questions@freebsd.org cc: nik@blueberry.co.uk (Nik Clayton) Subject: Re: resolv.conf and Linux compatability Reply-To: blewis@vet.vet.purdue.edu From: Benjamin Lewis Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Fri, 08 Dec 1995 03:13:50 -0500 Sender: owner-questions@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au said: > Nik Clayton stands accused of saying: > > > > Anyone know what a Linux /etc/resolv.conf file looks like? I'm playing > > around with the Linux port of Netscape 2.0b3 on FreeBSD, and it's > > expecting resolv.conf to be different. This is, of course, making it > > impossible to use names when referring to web servers. > > There was a post about this a while ago, describing the required format. > I'd check with the mailing archive on www.freebsd.org; I'm trying to think > of the name of the resolver they use (becuase that'd make it easier for > you to find the message), but I can't, sorry. > Looking through my /etc, and sifting through my rapidly deteriorating memory, I don't think the problem was with resolv.conf, but with host.conf. The solution given was basically to erase host.conf (actually, rename it to host.conf.bsd, which accomplishes the same thing, I think). If you're actually interested in the format that Linux uses for host.conf, I found it in the NET-2 HowTo document at sunsite.unc.edu. Actually, I've still got it handy, so I'll put the relevant parts below (any lousy formatting is 'cuz I just pasted it from Netscape): /etc/host.conf The system has some library functions called the resolver library. This file specifies how your system will lookup host names. It should contain at least the following two lines: order hosts,bind multi on These two lines tell the resolve libraries to first check the /etc/hosts file and then to ask the nameserver (if one is present). The multi entry allows you to have multiple IP addresses for a given machine name in /etc/hosts. This file comes from the implementation of the resolv+ bind library for Linux. You can find further documentation in the resolv+(8) man page if you have it. If you don't, it can be obtained from: sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk /computing/comms/tcpip/nameserver/resolv+/resolv+2.1.1.tar.Z This file contains the resolv+.8 man page for the resolver library. /etc/resolv.conf This file actually configures the system name resolver and contains two types of entries: The addresses of your nameservers (if any) and the name of your domain, if you have one. If you're running your own nameserver (i.e running named on your Linux machine), then the address of your nameserver is 127.0.0.1, the loopback address. Your domain name is your fully qualified hostname (if you're a registered machine on the Internet, for example), with the hostname component removed. That is, if your full hostname is loomer.vpizza.com, then your domain name is vpizza.com, without the hostname loomer. For example, if you machine is goober.norelco.com and has a nameserver at the address 128.253.154.5, then your /etc/resolv.conf file would look like: domain norelco.com nameserver 128.253.154.5 You can specify more than one nameserver. Each one must have a nameserver entry in the resolv.conf file. Remember, if you're running on loopback, you don't need a nameserver. -- Benjamin Lewis (blewis@vet.vet.purdue.edu)