Douglas & anyone else interested, At Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:12:44 -0400 Douglas Tutty wrote, >> # /etc/hosts file >> 127.0.0.1 peasthope.yi.org joule localhost > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > this should be: localhost.localdomain localhost > >if you don't own peasthope.yi.org, then I wouldn't use it even locally.
I recalled why I associated the machine name joule with 127.0.0.1. There is a message in the debian-user archive timestamped Thu, 11 Jan 2007 11:56:19 -0800 with subject "complaint from Xfce about address configuration". Summarizing briefly, the system was working with a static address and did not have resolvconf installed. Then /etc/network/interfaces was changed to use dhcp. Xfce then complained as specified in the message cited above and suggested "... adding computer to /etc/hosts on your system." A reply to my query chastised slightly for asking here rather than in the Xfce ML and suggested "hostname 127.0.0.1". So I put the host name with 127.0.0.1 and Xfce stopped complaining. Much later I installed resolvconf and made no connection to the earlier problem. Conclusion Well now I see that the correct solution to the original problem was to leave /etc/hosts with the line 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost and install resolvconf. Unfortunately, this was not recognized at the time and the message from Xfce was misleading. Some maintainers work at their documentation and have complete and accurate man pages. Other documentation has abysmal deficiencies and errors. This is probably the worst shortcoming of Debian at this time. Best regards, ... Peter E. Desktops.OpenDoc http://carnot.yi.org/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
