Why dns lookup is possible without root hint file?

[MontyRee]

Hello list.

I have operated caching only nameserver using bind.
and as I know root hit file is required. 
but curiously dns lookup works well without any problem.
 
surely, I deleted root hint file, all cache data and resolv.conf config.

My named.conf file is below.

options {
        directory "/var/named";
        dump-file "/var/named/data/cache_dump.db";
        statistics-file "/var/named/data/named_stats.txt";
        allow-recursion {127.0.0.1; };
};
include "/etc/rndc.key";


when I dump the packet using tcpdump like below.

# dig @127.0.0.1 isc.org

15:21:31.393579 localhost.5149> E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.domain:  10582 [1au] A? isc.org. (36) (DF)
15:21:31.395323 localhost.54924> E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.domain:  20822 [1au] NS? . (28) (DF)


I don't know how bind get the data E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET?
is it hardcoded?



Thanks for your sharing information.

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