/etc/hosts
I've been trying to install and configure leafnode. The version
packaged with Potato ( the distro I'm using ) has given me a problem
according to the maintainer. Following his advice, I've compiled the
latest version from source and after much playing around with the
FQDN ( something I've never really understood ) have it working.
Initially, I got an unclear error message following attempts to get
newsgroups descriptions from the news server at my ISP - I've now
found the descriptions were put into the correct folder and the
errror message meant these could not be read ( presumably to offer
me the chance to subscribe ). I'm going to install and use slrn, but
find something must be wrong with my /etc/hosts file.
The only line I have now in the file is:-
127.0.0.1 <machine name>.clara.co.uk <machine name>
<machine name> is the entry in /etc/hostname and command
#hostname confirms this whilst commands #hostname and
#dnsdomainname -d both give the clara.co.uk bit. #ifconfig appears
to show the loopback is OK.
Trying to ping localhost now says 'unknown host host' and pinging
localhost says 'unknown host localhost' and this was not the case
before I changed /etc/hosts. I've never understood how loopback
works and have assumed 127.0.0.1 was how all machines refer to
themselves.
Can someone please give me a simple 'idiots guide' and if possible
say how I can get slrn to see the newsgroups descriptions in
/var/spool/news/leaf.node/groupinfo so that I can subscribe to those
I wish to read ( these will I presume be put into /news.clara.co.uk
so that fetchnews or slrn can get the messages ).
After a couple of years being mystified by FQDN's I thought at long
last I did understood - now I just don't know.
Regards,
John
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