[MigP]

Is is OK to edit /etc/hosts in Panther and add entries directly? I know that in previous versions you had to use Netinfo Manager to add hosts.

Thanks,

Miguel

[jhunt5247]

Originally posted by MigP:
Is is OK to edit /etc/hosts in Panther and add entries directly? I know that in previous versions you had to use Netinfo Manager to add hosts.

Thanks,

Miguel

Of course it is ok. vi /etc/hosts and add what you want. You didn't have to use Netinfo Manager before or now.

[Kristoff]

by the way....what's wrong with using NetInfo?

[DVD Plaza]

Originally posted by MigP:
Is is OK to edit /etc/hosts in Panther and add entries directly? I know that in previous versions you had to use Netinfo Manager to add hosts.

I've never had problems editing the hosts file before?

Originally posted by Kristoff:
by the way....what's wrong with using NetInfo?

What's wrong with editing a text file?

[davechen]

How about that! It actually worked. I definitely remember previous versions of OS X where the /etc/hosts file was ignored except if you booted into single user mode. Everything was stored in the NetInfo database.

[Gene Jockey]

Originally posted by davechen:
How about that! It actually worked. I definitely remember previous versions of OS X where the /etc/hosts file was ignored except if you booted into single user mode. Everything was stored in the NetInfo database.

Well, you had to enable BSD flat files in "Directory Access" in 10.2.

--Josh

[Rainy Day]

How about that! It actually worked. I definitely remember previous versions of OS X where the /etc/hosts file was ignored except if you booted into single user mode. Everything was stored in the NetInfo database.

True, prior to MacOS X 10.2.

As of Jaguar, however, MacOS X uses both /etc/hosts and NetInfo. (No assembly required.)

[lars-man]

Originally posted by Rainy Day:
True, prior to MacOS X 10.2.

As of Jaguar, however, MacOS X uses both /etc/hosts and NetInfo. (No assembly required.)

Hmm, sounds interesting. From where do you know that? Because up to 10.2 /etc/hosts was used only in Single User mode (as far as i know). If you wanted to add a host so that you could call a computer by its name you had to use NetInfo Manager.

Kind regards
Lars

[Rainy Day]

Hmm, sounds interesting. From where do you know that?

I first became aware of that here on MacNN early this year (i.e. Jaguar support for /etc/hosts); i knew that 10.0-10.1 did not, by default, support /etc/hosts (except by booting into single user mode). When i read that Jaguar, by default, supported both /etc/hosts and NetInfo, i tried it and, sure enough, it worked.

Because up to 10.2 /etc/hosts was used only in Single User mode (as far as i know). If you wanted to add a host so that you could call a computer by its name you had to use NetInfo Manager.

Yes, prior to 10.2, this is how it worked (although it was possible to configure it to use /etc/hosts, this was not the default and most folks didn't know how to go about it).