From Linux Man Pages
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 keywords recognized
are order, trim, mdns, multi, nospoof, spoof, andreorder. These keywords are described below.
order This keyword specifies how host lookups are to be performed. It should be followed by one or more lookup
methods, separated by commas. Valid methods are bind, hosts, and nis.
trim This keyword may be listed more than once. Each time it should be followed by a list of domains, sepa-
rated by colons (`:'), semicolons (`;') or commas (`,'), with the leading dot. When set, the resolv+
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 file. Care should be taken to ensure that the first hostname for each entry in the
hosts file is fully qualified or non-qualified, as appropriate for the local installation.)
mdns Valid values are on and off. If set to on, the resolv+ library treats the .local top level domain as
link-local domain and sends multicast DNS requests to the multicast address 224.0.0.251 port 5353 instead
of normal DNS requests. If you already use the .local domain in your nameserver configuration you will
have to switch this option off. See http://www.multicastdns.org for more information on multicast DNS. on
by default.
multi Valid values are on and off. If set to on, the resolv+ 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.
nospoof
Valid values are on and off. If set to on, the resolv+ 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,
resolv+ will perform a hostname lookup for that address. If the two hostnames do not match, the query
will fail. 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, resolv+ will
log a warning 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 emitted via the syslog facility. If this option is set to warn, resolv+ will attempt
to prevent hostname spoofing to enhance the security and log a warning of the error via the syslog facil-
ity. If this option is set to nowarn, the resolv+ 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.
reorder
Valid values are on and off. If set to on, resolv+ 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
There are six environment variables that 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_SERV_ORDER
Overrides the order command.
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.
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 environ-
ment 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.
RELATED
gethostbyname(3), hostname(7), named(8), resolv+(8)
CATEGORY