return in nsswitch.conf not working

[William Edwards <wedwards@cyberfusion.nl>]

Dear reader,

This is the line for hosts in my nsswitch.conf:

  hosts:          files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4

Both 'files' and 'mdns4_minimal' return NOTFOUND for a lookup:

  root@http-lyr01:~# getent -s hosts:files hosts williamedwards.nl
  root@http-lyr01:~# echo $?
  2
  root@http-lyr01:~# getent -s hosts:mdns4_minimal hosts 
williamedwards.nl
  root@http-lyr01:~# echo $?
  2

Quoting the 'exit status' section in getent(1):

  2         One or more supplied key could not be found in the database.

However, the 'dns' database (which comes *after* the return statement) 
is also used, as my lookup succeeds with the result that the 'dns' 
database returns.

Could anyone explain why that is? I would expect the lookup to fail 
because of the 'NOTFOUND=return'.

--
With kind regards,

William Edwards