1HOSTNAME(7)            Miscellaneous Information Manual            HOSTNAME(7)
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NAME

6       hostname - host name resolution description
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DESCRIPTION

9       Hostnames  are domains, where a domain is a hierarchical, dot-separated
10       list of subdomains; for example, the machine  monet,  in  the  Berkeley
11       subdomain of the EDU subdomain of the ARPANET would be represented as
12                 monet.Berkeley.EDU
13       (with no trailing dot).
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15       Hostnames are often used with network client and server programs, which
16       must generally translate the name to an address for use.   (This  func‐
17       tion  is  generally performed by the library routine gethostbyname(3).)
18       Hostnames are resolved by the internet name resolver in  the  following
19       fashion.
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21       If  the  name consists of a single component, i.e. contains no dot, and
22       if the environment variable ``HOSTALIASES'' is set to  the  name  of  a
23       file,  that file is searched for an string matching the input hostname.
24       The file should consist of lines made up of two  white-space  separated
25       strings,  the  first  of which is the hostname alias, and the second of
26       which is the complete hostname to be substituted for that alias.  If  a
27       case-sensitive  match  is found between the hostname to be resolved and
28       the first field of a line in the file, the substituted name  is  looked
29       up with no further processing.
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31       If  the  input  name  ends  with  a  trailing  dot, the trailing dot is
32       removed, and the remaining name is looked up with no  further  process‐
33       ing.
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35       If  the input name does not end with a trailing dot, it is looked up in
36       the local domain and its parent domains until either a match  is  found
37       or fewer than 2 components of the local domain remain.  For example, in
38       the domain CS.Berkeley.EDU, the  name  lithium.CChem  will  be  checked
39       first as lithium.CChem.CS.Berkeley.EDU and then as lithium.CChem.Berke‐
40       ley.EDU.  Lithium.CChem.EDU will not be tried, as the there is only one
41       component remaining from the local domain.
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SEE ALSO

44       gethostbyname(3), resolver(5), mailaddr(7), named(8), RFC883
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484.2 Berkeley Distribution      November 21, 1987                   HOSTNAME(7)
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