On Fri, Feb 04, 2005 at 07:57:42PM +0100, Juliusz Chroboczek wrote:
> > What do you think of this?
>
> Tom, please don't do that.
>
> > Is there anything particulary bad about using the system resolver?
>
> The system resolver is blocking, meaning that Polipo hangs during a
> DNS lookup. This is unlike Polipo's built-in resolver, which will
> allow other requests to be serviced while a DNS lookup is in progress.
>
> Additionally, the system resolver doesn't give TTL information.
It is important to note that I've asked for this to be set to
'happily'.
This means polipo should use its own resolver first and _then_ fallback
to using the system one.
By default /etc/nsswitch.conf on Debian -- since I asked for this be a
Debian specific change -- lists 'files dns'.
This means, when online:
- polipo uses its' own resolver *until* it gets back a negative
response
- it would then fall back to using the system resolver, which
will lookup the entry in /etc/hosts
- if that failed, it'd fall back to DNS
In the common case, this has no impact for Debian users.
In the next case, those with entries in /etc/hosts, polipo "Just Works"
without intervention. Another win for Debian users.
The last case, where a user enters in, or click on, a link directing them
to a host which doesn't exist (in DNS) *then* the blocking system resolver
code would kick in.
You are right that it would cause a slow down -- I could provide a
Debian specific patch to ameliorate this, if neccessary.
> > Currently in you have a private entry in /etc/hosts (say you are
> > developing a website on your laptop ...) it'll be ignored unless dUG
> > is set to either 'true' or 'happily'.
>
> Indeed. You should be using a local DNS server in those (IMHO rare)
> cases. I recommend pdnsd, which is what I use.
I am using a local DNS server (bind as it happens) but it is not
appropriate to (nor easy) to have bind override the returned information
for a single host entry in a non-local zone.
Note: to be clear I'm suggesting this as a change only for Debian users
and not generally.
Anand
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