4 ms·

At least on the OS I use, which is more IPv6 ready than most, /etc/hosts solves this "uncertainty" problem. I have found that failing to include a localhost en

At least on the OS I use, which is more IPv6 ready than most, /etc/hosts solves this "uncertainty" problem. I have found that failing to include a localhost entry in the HOSTS file can lead to some strange behavior. If there are "computers" out there that have no /etc/hosts or deny the computer's owner access to it, then maybe it might be time for an Internet Draft from Joe User. There should always be a mechanism for the user to override the internet DNS. And applications should continue to respect it.

cbhl 9y ago
I remember in the late 90s running into a "mysterious" problem where www.hotmail.com would fail to load, but hotmail.com (without www.) worked just fine. Spent the better part of a year just remembering to not type "www." until one day they made the domain redirect to the canonical name (breaking both). After asking around a bit, someone showed me where the Windows equivalent of /etc/hosts was, and lo-and-behold, there was an outdated entry for www.hotmail.com there. Deleting the offending line fixed the problem. Desktop computers are actually the odd one out in letting people manually override DNS -- if you want to fix the DNS for a phone or smart tv or thermostat or video game console, you need to configure DHCP and a resolver on a router in the middle.
- the8472 9y ago
  /etc/hosts also seems to work on android https://android.stackexchange.com/a/110483 https://android.stackexchange.com/a/110483
  - cbhl 9y ago
    Only if you've rooted your phone, and $EMPLOYER doesn't let rooted phones access certain resources.
- wolfgang42 9y ago
  > the Windows equivalent of /etc/hosts Which is, bizarrely, etc\hosts (somewhere in C:\Windows\). I've always wondered why they felt the need to make an 'etc' folder just to have the hosts file in it.
  - inopinatus 9y ago
    Software historians differ on the degree to which the Windows NT 3.1 TCP/IP stack & utilities were derived from BSD, but it's one possible reason.
    - kagamine 9y ago
      A very diplomatic way of putting it.
  - notatoad 9y ago
    C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts and, if i remember correctly from my windows days, not only did they make the whole 'etc' folder just to put the hosts file in, the strangely-named 'drivers' folder didn't have anything else in it either.
- dredmorbius 9y ago
  I discovered a few weeks back that my Android build has dnsmasq installed in the system directories. Apparently stock. It's not running. But ... you could have fun with that.

cbhl 9y ago

I remember in the late 90s running into a "mysterious" problem where www.hotmail.com would fail to load, but hotmail.com (without www.) worked just fine. Spent the better part of a year just remembering to not type "www." until one day they made the domain redirect to the canonical name (breaking both). After asking around a bit, someone showed me where the Windows equivalent of /etc/hosts was, and lo-and-behold, there was an outdated entry for www.hotmail.com there. Deleting the offending line fixed the problem. Desktop computers are actually the odd one out in letting people manually override DNS -- if you want to fix the DNS for a phone or smart tv or thermostat or video game console, you need to configure DHCP and a resolver on a router in the middle.

the8472 9y ago
/etc/hosts also seems to work on android https://android.stackexchange.com/a/110483 https://android.stackexchange.com/a/110483
- cbhl 9y ago
  Only if you've rooted your phone, and $EMPLOYER doesn't let rooted phones access certain resources.
wolfgang42 9y ago
> the Windows equivalent of /etc/hosts Which is, bizarrely, etc\hosts (somewhere in C:\Windows\). I've always wondered why they felt the need to make an 'etc' folder just to have the hosts file in it.
- inopinatus 9y ago
  Software historians differ on the degree to which the Windows NT 3.1 TCP/IP stack & utilities were derived from BSD, but it's one possible reason.
  - kagamine 9y ago
    A very diplomatic way of putting it.
- notatoad 9y ago
  C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts and, if i remember correctly from my windows days, not only did they make the whole 'etc' folder just to put the hosts file in, the strangely-named 'drivers' folder didn't have anything else in it either.
dredmorbius 9y ago
I discovered a few weeks back that my Android build has dnsmasq installed in the system directories. Apparently stock. It's not running. But ... you could have fun with that.