>> Find the row and add HOSTNAME=$host: >> $append="append $initrd $bootprot $rootfs HOSTNAME=$host $opt_k $flags >> $action\n";
> What does the nfsroot's `hostname` command report as the current hostname? > Is it the same as the content of HOSTNAME or is it the original/unmodified > host's name? I just had a look at the relevant documentation / code for Debian. $ man hostname [...] The host name is usually set once at system startup in /etc/init.d/hostname.sh (normally by reading the contents of a file which contains the host name, e.g. /etc/hostname). [...] $ cat /etc/init.d/hostname.sh [...] do_start () { [ -f /etc/hostname ] && HOSTNAME="$(cat /etc/hostname)" # Keep current name if /etc/hostname is missing. [ -z "$HOSTNAME" ] && HOSTNAME="$(hostname)" # And set it to 'localhost' if no setting was found [ -z "$HOSTNAME" ] && HOSTNAME=localhost [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_action_begin_msg "Setting hostname to '$HOSTNAME'" hostname "$HOSTNAME" ES=$? [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_action_end_msg $ES exit $ES } [...] So... If there is a /etc/hostname the hostname will be set to its content. If there is NO $HOSTNAME then the host's name will be set to whatever `hostname` reports. (Most probably the value provided by DHCP.) If HOSTNAME still does not contain anything, set it to 'localhost'. undocumented/implicit cases: If there is NO /etc/hostname AND $HOSTNAME contains something then the host's name will be set to $HOSTNAME. If there is a /etc/hostname AND $HOSTNAME contains something then $HOSTNAME is ignored and /etc/hostname's content will be used. [Maybe there's a modified /etc/init.d/hostname.sh / /etc/hostname in Hiro's initrd, which sets the hostname to fai-live-host?]