next gen h2n

[Joseph S D Yao]

On Mon, Mar 13, 2000 at 08:52:56PM +0000, Barry Margolin wrote:
> I don't think people use h2n because they're using systems that require
> hosts files to be distributed.  They use it because hosts files are a
> simpler file format.  If you edit zone files directly there are more
> opportunities to screw up (e.g. messing up the serial number, not keeping
> the forward and reverse zones in sync, messing up indentation).  Editing a
> hosts file and then using h2n is a simple system that many admins prefer.

OTOH, the two formats are not entirely compatible.  So this can cause
problems.

Remember the person whose hosts file had IP addresses with leading
zeroes?  BIND recognized them as OCTAL numbers.  In /etc/hosts they
were DECIMAL numbers, of course.

What about people who have hosts files including both "name.domain" and
"domain" as aliases for one host?  I don't know whether h2n handles the
"CNAME" issues correctly - if so, more power to it.  ;-)

-- 
Joe Yao				jsdy at cospo.osis.gov - Joseph S. D. Yao
COSPO/OSIS Computer Support					EMT-B
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