Re: Cannot change hostname permanently

["Mumia W.." <paduille.4058.mumia.w@earthlink.net>]

On 10/02/2006 05:23 AM, Chris Lale wrote:
> Kent West wrote:
> > [...]
>
> > No, I mean it seems odd that he changes "/etc/hostname", and after 
> > reboot it has changed back to the original.
> >
> > Or at least, that's what I understood him to say in his original post.
>
> Yes, that's it. My packages are up-to-date, my wireless/ADSL 
> modem/router box (Philips SA6500) is switched off, Samba and NFS are 
> purged from the system and any references to the original hostname 
> ("earth") in /etc/hosts are commented out.
>
> The original hostname is "earth". I want to change it to "desktop". This 
> is what happens:
>
>    # hostname
>    earth
>
>    # hostname desktop
>    # hostname
>    desktop
>
>    # shutdown -r now
>
> During reboot I see (blink and you'll miss it)
>  
>    INIT: version 2.86 booting
>    Setting hostname to 'earth' ... done
>
> The above two consecutive lines do not appear in dmesg output.
>
>    # hostname
>    earth
>
> Chris.

I did this to check where hostname is set:
$ cd /etc/init.d
$ grep hostname *
hostname.sh:# hostname.sh       Set hostname.
hostname.sh:# Version:  @(#)hostname.sh  1.10  26-Feb-2001 
miquels@cistron.nl
hostname.sh:if [ -f /etc/hostname ]
hostname.sh:    hostname --file /etc/hostname


It looks to me like /etc/init.d/hostname.sh (/etc/rcS.d/S40hostname.sh) 
is the only place where the hostname is set, and it uses but does not 
modify /etc/hostname. Search in /etc/init.d to see if you have the same 
results.

Another idea might be to make /etc/hostname read-only (chmod 0444), but 
that might force it to work without fixing the underlying problem.

--
paduille.4058.mumia.w@earthlink.net