Hi,

> the error messages is shownt as bellow :
> 
> WWWOFFLE Remote Host Error
> 
>  Your request for URL 
> http://www.suse.co.uk/index_uk.html 
> failed because 
> Cannot open the HTTP connection to www.suse.co.uk port 80; [Name or service not 
>known]. 
> 
> 
> I kept getting messages as above, how can i fix it ?
> How can i make the WWWOFFLE work with my system ?
> I tried steps in file INSTALL , but failed to make WWWOFFLE to work ! ?

-------------------- WWWOFFLE FAQ Q 3.2 --------------------
Q 3.2   Why can't WWWOFFLE find a host when the browser without it can?

The most likely reason is that the DNS server that was configured when WWWOFFLE
was started is no longer valid.  This would happen for example if the file
/etc/resolv.conf was changed after wwwoffled was run.  This is not a WWWOFFLE
only problem, but will affect any (most) programs when the DNS configuration is
changed while they are running.

When WWWOFFLE looks up a hostname it uses the standard UNIX library (libc)
function call gethostbyname().  The name lookup part of libc (called the
resolver library) is initialised when the program first uses a function from it.
When a resolver library function is performed later it will use the
configuration that was in place when the first function was used.

The DNS configuration change may happen without you being aware of.  Some of the
user friendly PPP setup programs will change the /etc/resolv.conf file depending
on which ISP you are connecting to.  One example of a program that does this is
kppp.

Large browser projects (Netscape in particular) may use other methods of
performing name lookups than the standard library.  This mean that they may work
even if the DNS configuration has changed since it was started.  A working
Netscape and a non-working WWWOFFLE may mean that your name server configuration
has changed and is not a WWWOFFLE bug.


It has often been suggested that WWWOFFLE be changed so that it calls the
res_init() function each time that it goes online.  This is the function that is
called in all programs the first time that a DNS lookup is performed.  It
initialises the DNS resolver library.

My objections to this are the following.  There is nothing to say that calling
res_init() more than once is safe on all systems, that calling res_init() more
than once works on all systems or that calling res_init() more than once will
work in future versions of the resolver library.

The res_init() function is a very low-level function in the resolver
library, it is not intended for this use.  It is intended to
initialise the resolver library, nowhere that I have seen does it say
that it is safe to call it more than once or that it can be used to
change the DNS lookup method.


One solution is to run a local nameserver.  The bind package contains the
standard nameserver, but there are simpler alternatives for end-user systems.
One option is pdnsd (http://home.t-online.de/home/Moestl/) which is a caching
DNS-server.  Whichever option you choose you will need to make localhost be the
nameserver and the nameserver configuration needs to be changed when you go
online.
-------------------- WWWOFFLE FAQ Q 3.2 --------------------


-- 
Andrew.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew M. Bishop                             [EMAIL PROTECTED]
                                      http://www.gedanken.demon.co.uk/

WWWOFFLE users page:
        http://www.gedanken.demon.co.uk/wwwoffle/version-2.7/user.html

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