Do we check for underscores somewhere in name resolution? I know that RFC 1035 disallows them from hostnames... I had a quick browse of our code and nothing obvious stood out.
Tested on netbsd-10 amd64, & current as of a few hours ago, amd64: ksh$ dig www.engadget.com ; <<>> DiG 9.18.24 <<>> www.engadget.com ;; global options: +cmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 21276 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1 ;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION: ; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 1220 ; COOKIE: 77f074b515e86de601000000696dd54bb9e5020c3f647174 (good) ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;www.engadget.com. IN A ;; ANSWER SECTION: www.engadget.com. 41 IN CNAME engadget-ycpi-media_edge.g03.yahoodns.net. engadget-ycpi-media_edge.g03.yahoodns.net. 50 IN A 183.177.68.211 engadget-ycpi-media_edge.g03.yahoodns.net. 50 IN A 183.177.68.210 ;; Query time: 16 msec ;; SERVER: 192.168.0.1#53(192.168.0.1) (UDP) ;; WHEN: Mon Jan 19 17:55:07 AEDT 2026 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 160 ksh$ ping www.engadget.com ping: Cannot resolve "www.engadget.com" (Unknown host) ksh$ dig aaaa www.engadget.com ; <<>> DiG 9.18.24 <<>> aaaa www.engadget.com ;; global options: +cmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 6167 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1 ;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION: ; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 1220 ; COOKIE: 65692c8e76429c9501000000696dd58a38d505be8f373aac (good) ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;www.engadget.com. IN AAAA ;; ANSWER SECTION: www.engadget.com. 154 IN CNAME engadget-ycpi-media_edge.g03.yahoodns.net. engadget-ycpi-media_edge.g03.yahoodns.net. 60 IN AAAA 2406:6e00:f048:1fa::3000 engadget-ycpi-media_edge.g03.yahoodns.net. 60 IN AAAA 2406:6e00:f048:1fa::2000 ;; Query time: 9 msec ;; SERVER: 192.168.0.1#53(192.168.0.1) (UDP) ;; WHEN: Mon Jan 19 17:56:10 AEDT 2026 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 184 ksh$ ping6 www.engadget.com ping6: No address associated with hostname -- Paul Ripke "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people." -- Disputed: Often attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt. 1948.
