HOST.CONF(5) Linux System Administration HOST.CONF(5)
NAME
host.conf - resolver configuration file
DESCRIPTION
The file /etc/host.conf contains configuration information specific to the resolver library. It should contain one configuration keyword
per line, followed by appropriate configuration information. The following keywords are recognized:
trim This keyword may be listed more than once. Each time it should be followed by a list of domains, separated by colons (':'), semi-
colons (';') or commas (','), with the leading dot. When set, the resolver library will automatically trim the given domain name
from the end of any hostname resolved via DNS. This is intended for use with local hosts and domains. (Related note: trim will not
affect hostnames gathered via NIS or the hosts(5) file. Care should be taken to ensure that the first hostname for each entry in
the hosts file is fully qualified or unqualified, as appropriate for the local installation.)
multi Valid values are on and off. If set to on, the resolver library will return all valid addresses for a host that appears in the
/etc/hosts file, instead of only the first. This is off by default, as it may cause a substantial performance loss at sites with
large hosts files.
reorder
Valid values are on and off. If set to on, the resolver library will attempt to reorder host addresses so that local addresses
(i.e., on the same subnet) are listed first when a gethostbyname(3) is performed. Reordering is done for all lookup methods. The
default value is off.
ENVIRONMENT
The following environment variables can be used to allow users to override the behavior which is configured in /etc/host.conf:
RESOLV_HOST_CONF
If set, this variable points to a file that should be read instead of /etc/host.conf.
RESOLV_MULTI
Overrides the multi command.
RESOLV_REORDER
Overrides the reorder command.
RESOLV_ADD_TRIM_DOMAINS
A list of domains, separated by colons (':'), semicolons (';') or commas (','), with the leading dot, which will be added to the
list of domains that should be trimmed.
RESOLV_OVERRIDE_TRIM_DOMAINS
A list of domains, separated by colons (':'), semicolons (';') or commas (','), with the leading dot, which will replace the list
of domains that should be trimmed. Overrides the trim command.
FILES
/etc/host.conf
Resolver configuration file
/etc/resolv.conf
Resolver configuration file
/etc/hosts
Local hosts database
NOTES
The following differences exist compared to the original implementation. A new command spoof and a new environment variable
RESOLV_SPOOF_CHECK can take arguments like off, nowarn, and warn. Line comments can appear anywhere and not only at the beginning of a
line.
Historical
The nsswitch.conf(5) file is the modern way of controlling the order of host lookups.
In glibc 2.4 and earlier, the following keyword is recognized:
order This keyword specifies how host lookups are to be performed. It should be followed by one or more lookup methods, separated by com-
mas. Valid methods are bind, hosts, and nis.
RESOLV_SERV_ORDER
Overrides the order command.
Since glibc 2.0.7, the following keywords and environment variable have been recognized but never implemented:
nospoof
Valid values are on and off. If set to on, the resolver library will attempt to prevent hostname spoofing to enhance the security
of rlogin and rsh. It works as follows: after performing a host address lookup, the resolver library will perform a hostname lookup
for that address. If the two hostnames do not match, the query fails. The default value is off.
spoofalert
Valid values are on and off. If this option is set to on and the nospoof option is also set, the resolver library will log a warn-
ing of the error via the syslog facility. The default value is off.
spoof Valid values are off, nowarn, and warn. If this option is set to off, spoofed addresses are permitted and no warnings will be emit-
ted via the syslog facility. If this option is set to warn, the resolver library will attempt to prevent hostname spoofing to
enhance the security and log a warning of the error via the syslog facility. If this option is set to nowarn, the resolver library
will attempt to prevent hostname spoofing to enhance the security but not emit warnings via the syslog facility. Setting this
option to anything else is equal to setting it to nowarn.
RESOLV_SPOOF_CHECK
Overrides the nospoof, spoofalert, and spoof commands in the same way as the spoof command is parsed. Valid values are off, nowarn,
and warn.
SEE ALSO
gethostbyname(3), hosts(5), nsswitch.conf(5), resolv.conf(5), hostname(7), named(8)
COLOPHON
This page is part of release 4.15 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
latest version of this page, can be found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
Linux 2017-09-15 HOST.CONF(5)