Re: $HOST on OS X

[Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net>]

On 2010-06-05 14:52:33 -0400, Benjamin R. Haskell wrote:
> Regardless, OS X is far from the only O/S that'll update hostnames when 
> you join a network.  And especially on a laptop, it often makes sense.  

Changing the host may confuse software that expects it not to change,
may break user configuration (for instance, I use the same config
files on various machines, and test the FQDN when a difference is
needed), and so on.

> For instance, after associating with a university's wireless network, 
> your host probably has a different name assigned to it.  Why would it be 
> bad to update it?

There's a host name associated with the IP address, but this doesn't
mean that it should be the same as $HOST. Otherwise what would you do
if you wanted to connect to 2 networks (wireless or not) at the same
time?

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