Bug#656218: libnss-myhostname: Package's description is outdated

[Faidon Liambotis]

Package: libnss-myhostname
Version: 0.3-3
Severity: normal

It seems that version 0.3 of libnss-myhostname changed its behavior and
introduced an important feature: the module now first returns all locally
configured public IP addresses and only if none are found it fallbacks to
127.0.0.2 (or, in Debian, 127.0.1.1).

The package's long description should be updated to include that; I'm
using normal as the severity and not minor, since this is a quite
important change and may fool users into thinking that this need of
theirs is not covered by the package. Your opinion may vary :)

FWIW, the diff from upstream's README reads:
-   gethostname(2). A lot of software relies on that the local host name is
-   resolvable via DNS to an IPv4 or IPv6 address. When using dynamic
-   hostnames this is usually achieved by patching /etc/hosts which however
-   is suboptimal since it requires a writable /etc file system and is
-   fragile because the file might also be edited by the administrator.
-   nss-myhostname simply returns the IPv4 address 127.0.0.2 (wich is on
-   the local loopback) and the IPv6 address ::1 (which is the local host)
-   for whatever system hostname is configured locally. Patching
-   /etc/hostname is thus no longer necessary.
+   gethostname(2). Various software relies on an always resolvable local
+   host name. When using dynamic hostnames this is usually achieved by
+   patching /etc/hosts at the same time as changing the host name. This
+   however is not ideal since it requires a writable /etc file system and
+   is fragile because the file might be edited by the administrator at the
+   same time. nss-myhostname simply returns all locally configure public
+   IP addresses, or -- if none are configured -- the IPv4 address
+   127.0.0.2 (wich is on the local loopback) and the IPv6 address ::1
+   (which is the local host) for whatever system hostname is configured
+   locally. Patching /etc/hosts is thus no longer necessary.

Regards,
Faidon



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Bug#656218: libnss-myhostname: Package's description is outdated

[Joachim Breitner]

Hi Faidon,

thanks for spotting this and the very helpful bugreport, including the
README diff. New package uploaded.

Greetings,
Joachim

Am Dienstag, den 17.01.2012, 16:04 +0200 schrieb Faidon Liambotis:
 Package: libnss-myhostname
 Version: 0.3-3
 Severity: normal
 
 It seems that version 0.3 of libnss-myhostname changed its behavior and
 introduced an important feature: the module now first returns all locally
 configured public IP addresses and only if none are found it fallbacks to
 127.0.0.2 (or, in Debian, 127.0.1.1).
 
 The package's long description should be updated to include that; I'm
 using normal as the severity and not minor, since this is a quite
 important change and may fool users into thinking that this need of
 theirs is not covered by the package. Your opinion may vary :)
 
 FWIW, the diff from upstream's README reads:
 -   gethostname(2). A lot of software relies on that the local host name is
 -   resolvable via DNS to an IPv4 or IPv6 address. When using dynamic
 -   hostnames this is usually achieved by patching /etc/hosts which however
 -   is suboptimal since it requires a writable /etc file system and is
 -   fragile because the file might also be edited by the administrator.
 -   nss-myhostname simply returns the IPv4 address 127.0.0.2 (wich is on
 -   the local loopback) and the IPv6 address ::1 (which is the local host)
 -   for whatever system hostname is configured locally. Patching
 -   /etc/hostname is thus no longer necessary.
 +   gethostname(2). Various software relies on an always resolvable local
 +   host name. When using dynamic hostnames this is usually achieved by
 +   patching /etc/hosts at the same time as changing the host name. This
 +   however is not ideal since it requires a writable /etc file system and
 +   is fragile because the file might be edited by the administrator at the
 +   same time. nss-myhostname simply returns all locally configure public
 +   IP addresses, or -- if none are configured -- the IPv4 address
 +   127.0.0.2 (wich is on the local loopback) and the IPv6 address ::1
 +   (which is the local host) for whatever system hostname is configured
 +   locally. Patching /etc/hosts is thus no longer necessary.
 
 Regards,
 Faidon
 
 
 

-- 
Joachim nomeata Breitner
Debian Developer
  nome...@debian.org | ICQ# 74513189 | GPG-Keyid: 4743206C
  JID: nome...@joachim-breitner.de | http://people.debian.org/~nomeata


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