Re: localhost.localdomain

[Jeff Stevens <jeff@mossycup.com>]

On Sat, 2005-10-08 at 23:04 +0200, Frans Pop wrote:
> On Saturday 08 October 2005 22:07, Jeff Stevens wrote:
> > On Fri, 2005-10-07 at 16:26 +0200, Christoph Haas wrote:
> > "localhost.localdomain" and "localhost" must be swapped.  The first
> > entry in the list of hosts *must* be "localhost".
> 
> You make quite a lot of noise it this mail, but I fail to find any real 
> arguments. (Unless you consider saying "this should be so" or "this is 
> wrong" an argument.)
> 
> You give nice explanations how things work, but fail to say anywhere why 
> having localhost.localdomain first is so wrong.
> What breaks? What standards (with reference please) are not honored?
> What alternative solutions do you propose for the problems that led up to 
> it being included?

You are correct that there probably are not any documented standards
requiring "127.0.0.1" to resolve to "localhost" except when DNS is used.
That is, if DNS is queried to resolve "127.0.0.1" it is expected to
resolve to "localhost" -- nothing else.  I don't believe such a written
standard exists for resolution through /etc/hosts.

I'm simply trying to illustrate that there are years of precedent.  It
has been safe to assume that a resolver will resolve "127.0.0.1" to
"localhost" -- even if resolution is completed by using a hosts file.

Taking into consideration:
  * DNS is expected to resolve "127.0.0.1" to "localhost"
  * Applications expect resolution of "127.0.0.1" to "localhost"
  * Consistent cross vendor resolution of "127.0.0.1" to "localhost"

There may not be a written standard but a de facto standard certainly
exists.

Thank you,

-Jeff