Re: Name lookup question

[John Haxby <jch scalix com>]

> On Thu, 12 May 2005, Collins, Kevin  [MindWorks] wrote:
>
> > Shouldn't these commands be using the name service switch just like the
> > rest of the OS, or am I spoiled because HP-UX works the "right" way?
I used to regularly curse HP-UX's hacked nslookup.   nslookup on every 
other platform only queries the DNS, on HP/UX it consults 
/etc/nsswitch.conf -- it's great when everything is working and a total 
pain in the neck when you're trying to diagnose name server problems so 
you can explain to the Help Desk what's broken and what needs to be done 
to fix it so that they can pass on the message to the non-English 
speaking but technically OK (just) network folks in Grenoble.   Not that 
I'm bitter and twisted :-)

Seriously, the easiest cross-platform way I found of going through 
nsswitch.conf was to use one-line perl scripts to call gethostbyname() 
(or whatever).

jch