Re: hosts file entry for 127.0.1.1
On Sat 28 Feb 2015 at 17:17:24 -0500, Philippe Clérié wrote:
> I've read through some of that thread you pointed to and to be
> honest, it's not at all clear what problem was being solved. I'm
> still not entirely convinced it's useful. But it's easily dealt with
> so... :-)
There is a long history behind this issue. What is compelling about
the situation we have moved to is the claim in [1]:
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 <UNIX-hostname>
in /etc/hosts works very well on many thousands of systems.
This fits with my experience (although my machines do little of any
complexity on the network). I have a dim recollection of what the
default hosts file contained many years ago and struggling with it;
I'd rather not abandon something which may not be perfect but which
by and large gets the job done.
>From the same source:
That was in 2004. The problem that this was meant to solve was
the fact that /etc/hosts is needed to play two different and
mutually incompatible roles. It is needed to provide a _default_
address for the UNIX hostname (or other name) in case that name
can't be resolved in any other way. And it is needed as a way of
_overriding_ the results of other name resolution mechanisms.
But according to the current design of glibc it is only possible
for /etc/hosts to play one role or the other, not both.
[1] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/netcfg/+bug/234543
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