Hi, Can someone tell me why the hostname of a machine is added as an alias for 127.0.0.1 to /etc/hosts during the installation i.e. why do we have something like this in /etc/hosts? --- begin --- 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost pluto --- end --- With the default (and normal) /etc/nsswitch.conf, first /etc/hosts is consulted and then DNS. Having the hostname as alias for the localhost IP address already got me in troubles two times: (1) When adding a new host to a Kerberos realm. It took me quite some time to find out why I could not login to a newly added machine (using the same procedure as on my Woody boxes). Part of the problem was the fact that /etc/hosts contained the hostname (not fully qualified) as alias for 127.0.0.1. (2) When creating a sudoers file with Host_Alias definition. Using the (short) hostname makes that sudo keeps asking for a password while it should not. Using the IP address or deleting the hostname alias in /etc/hosts resolves this issue. BTW, note that the output of hostname --fqdn shows localhost.localdomain. Deleting the alias shows the correct fully qualified hostname. Thus, why is the hostname added as an alias for 127.0.0.1? P.S.: All Sarge machines are installed using the network (PXE) so they get their IP via DHCP. After installation however, I statically assign their IP (BIOS first tries to boot from the network (only used to install), then from the harddisk). cu, -- lenaerts.frank@pandora.be gpg fingerprint: A41E A399 5160 BAB9 AEF1 58F2 B92A F4AB 9FFB 3707 gpg key id: 9FFB3707 Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly." -- Henry Spencer
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