Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions

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From	Nobody <nobody@nowhere.com>
Subject	Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions
Date	Sat, 17 Nov 2012 00:17:26 +0000
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On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 20:07:38 -0500, Roy Smith wrote:

>>> gethostbyname() and getaddrinfo() use the NSS (name-service switch)
>> mechanism, which is configured via /etc/nsswitch.conf. Depending upon
>> configuration, hostnames can be looked up via a plain text file
>> (/etc/hosts), Berkeley DB files, DNS, NIS, NIS+, LDAP, WINS, etc.
> 
> Gethostbyname() long predates NSS.

Before NSS there was host.conf, which provided similar functionality
except that the set of mechanisms was fixed (they were built into libc
rather than being dynamically-loaded libraries) and it only applied to
hostnames (NSS is also used for getpwent(), getprotoent(), etc).

> For that matter, I think it even predates DNS (i.e. back to the days
> when /etc/hosts was the *only* way to look up a hostname).
> 
> But, that's a nit.

Indeed; the main point is that gethostbyname() has never been specific to
DNS.

Thread

Subprocess puzzle and two questions wrw@mac.com - 2012-11-13 22:34 -0500
  Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2012-11-13 23:41 -0500
    Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions William Ray Wing <wrw@mac.com> - 2012-11-14 00:03 -0500
      Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2012-11-14 09:22 -0500
        Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-11-15 01:40 +1100
          Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions roy@panix.com (Roy Smith) - 2012-11-14 11:20 -0500
            Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-11-15 08:54 +1100
              Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2012-11-14 20:49 -0500
                Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-11-15 13:04 +1100
                Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2012-11-14 21:10 -0500
                Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-11-15 13:21 +1100
                Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Dave Angel <d@davea.name> - 2012-11-14 21:55 -0500
                Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Kushal Kumaran <kushal.kumaran+python@gmail.com> - 2012-11-15 10:23 +0530
                Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Nobody <nobody@nowhere.com> - 2012-11-15 22:54 +0000
                Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2012-11-15 20:07 -0500
                Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Nobody <nobody@nowhere.com> - 2012-11-17 00:17 +0000
              DNS from Python (was Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions) aahz@pythoncraft.com (Aahz) - 2012-11-14 21:42 -0800
        Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions wrw@mac.com - 2012-11-14 09:37 -0500
  Re: Subprocess puzzle and two questions Tim Roberts <timr@probo.com> - 2012-11-13 23:17 -0800

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