/etc/hosts lookup error

millertime · 07-19-2004, 12:53 PM

When restart my system, with RH9, I get this error message:

Could not look up internet address for #____.net.
This will prevent GNOME from operating correctly.
It may be possible to correct the problem by adding
#____.net to the file /etc/hosts.

Is this anything that needs attention? Net still works fine, uses DHCP.

Finlay · 07-19-2004, 12:55 PM

did you change the hostname of your computer?
make sure localhost is still in the hosts file

millertime · 07-19-2004, 01:48 PM

No didn't change anything. Believe this happened after I updated the kernel. In the hosts file is localhost and that's all that's listed.

lucastic · 07-19-2004, 10:02 PM

you should add your external IP address and hostname

so it should look something like this

211.999.211.101 myserver.mydomain.net myserver
192.168.0.1 localhost.mydomain.net localhost LOCALHOST

if you do not have an external IP address you could try, using your local LAN ip for the server, i.e.:

192.168.0.1 myserver.mydomain.net myserver
192.168.0.1 localhost.mydomain.net localhost LOCALHOST

This might help...

Finlay · 07-19-2004, 11:02 PM

it should have
127.0.0.1 localhost

then the other stuff, if you don't have the 127.0.0.1 try adding that in

lucastic · 07-19-2004, 11:17 PM

yes sorry,

first

127.0.0.1 localhost

then as necessary

192.168.0.1 myserver.mydomain.net myserver
192.168.0.1 localhost.mydomain.net localhost LOCALHOST

Finlay · 07-19-2004, 11:38 PM

did this happen on the first restart after the install or have in installed or made any other changes?

millertime · 07-23-2004, 05:46 PM

Believe it happened using RH's updater. Can't remember exactly though, been doing it for quite a while now. I added the correct address, but it still doesn't seem to change things. Guess it's not hurting anything, just a nuisance.

MasterOfTheHat · 08-06-2004, 09:30 AM

I've got the same problem with a gnome install on top of Gentoo...

You say we should include the local IP along with the local machine's hostname in the /etc/hosts file, but what if the local machine uses DHCP to retrieve its IP? Will I have to change the hostname each time my IP changes?

I noticed that millertime is using DHCP, too...

MotH

MasterOfTheHat · 08-06-2004, 09:57 AM

Well, minutes after posting above, I found a website that told me how to do it...
http://www.geocities.com/rlcomp_1999/hostname.html

It appears you can set the localhost's name as an alias on the 127.0.0.1 line in /etc/hosts to resolve the problem.

127.0.0.1 localhost myhost

After setting mine up, i was able to "ping myhost" successfully and on logout and re-login i didn't get the gnome error message.

MotH