It seems lot of distros are resorting to overcomplicating networking and changing everything and doing it differently each time, and also overwriting config files like /etc/resolv.conf, which is needed to set DNS.

Is there a way to stop this from happening? I want to be able to set network info by simply editing a file, as I usually don't install a GUI on servers.

Define "stuff" please.
Generally things that overwrite or replace the resolv.conf file are part of the networking. (Network Manager is famous for this.)
The answer is to configure the search domain and nameservers in the file that application uses to dynamicly create resolv.conf. Ok, that or simplify the networking and do away with those applications: but know what you are doing.

Something like network manager is very nice if you use WIFI on a laptop that travels a lot. It pulls down the right settings for the connection you are using NOW. IF you have something that does not travel, network manager can be a pain. There are ways to manage it that make things better, and I do recommend finding one before ripping out and replacing your networking software. (Google may help here.)

I am a Network/System Admin with 20+ years of experience and do things like this for fun, but not to my primary production machines. Look at your situation and the information available online that might help your problem, and think well before deciding on your approach. You have not provided enough information about your own knowledge, or system situation, to allow for better advice than that.

Good luck, and please return here to let us know what you decide and how it goes.

PS. One way to avoid this is to load your own system using something like Debian, or even Gentoo, to include ONLY the packages you want or need. No specific distribution can fit your use better than one you design yourself. Derivatives like Fedora and Ubuntu make a lot of assumptions about usage, and load a default setup that will fit "well enough" for most users. IF you are not "most users" then know that you are free to choose a different road.

I don't know what "stuff" is as it seems to differ between distros. I know networkmanager is one bad one, I always uninstall that. Basically in the config files it will usually even say to not edit it directly because it will get overwritten. But then if I google "how to change nnn" it will tell me to edit that exact file.

Gateway is another oddball one that seems to differ a lot. Usually it's in /etc/sysconfig/network but in some distros (Debian based) that sysconfig folder does not actually exist.

Is there a way to configure this stuff using ifconfig? It would be nice if I could just stick all the commands in /etc/rc.local and that way it would be consistent across all machines no matter what the distro is.

Funny you mention making a custom distro as it's actually something I want to look into at some point. Been reading up Linux From Scratch and other stuff so I can get a better understanding of the back end of Linux. It seems lot of distros are obscuring a lot of that stuff.

Even editing ~/.bashrc has become crazy in some distros, they shove so much crap in there.

Hi,

the resolvconf package tries to address this. It tries to keep track of everything that wants to write to /etc/resolv.conf and then keep that file in the state the you have told it to. As discussed above this is a non-trivial problem so it may take a little reading to understand what it is doing and how to configure it to your liking. See the README for details (/usr/share/doc/resolvconf/README.gz on Debian based systems).

Evo2.

Here is a fix:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...to_resolv.conf

Hi,
Can you elaborate?

Evo2.

The relevant part of the link you want is something like this :

Also

One could add the line below to the 'interfaces' file

or add this to resolv.conf:

One of the above 3 should work for you...

evo2 :

I just checked the link above - I suppose the Arch folks have been busy updating their pages; the info posted above has moved to :

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...e_DNS_settings

Good luck !