network Q.: host name gets ".local" added after sometime

["H.S." <hs.samix@gmail.com>]

Hello,

I have a Debian Unstable machine connected to an old machine running as
a router. The router is running dnsmasq and my local network is
configured as home.pvt.

This Unstable machine is given the name of Blue by the dnsmasq server on
on the router using dhcp (based on Blue's mac address). However, I have
noticed that after some days, Blue's name on the network changes to
Blue.local. The relevant syslog line in Blue appears to be:
May 31 20:04:47 blue avahi-daemon[3514]: Server startup complete. Host
name is blue.local. Local service cookie is 3941174068.

I have to run dhclient on blue again to get the IP address again and to
update its name in dnsmasq as blue.

Anybody know what I should look for to prevent this addition of ".local"
to the hostname? Or can somebody explain what is going on here?

Thanks.

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