On Wed, 11 Dec 1996, Michael Richardson wrote:

>   /etc/nsswitch.conf is okay. Not wonderful, but I can mostly deal
> with it. It doesn't list .o files to link in.
> 
>   [warning: slipperly slope argument comming up. I think NetBSD has
> more self-control than that, btw]
>   It may lead to other things, e.g. /etc/netconfig. Rather than worry
> about who has DNS and who doesn't have DNS, etc... why not just make
> DNS easier to configure, write "basic.named" to read /etc/hosts and do
> away with the rest? 

It seems to me that the main use of nsswitch.conf could be handled with
a lot less bulk and bloat by something similar to Irix's `hostresorder'
directive.  A line of the form `hostresorder service1 sevice2 ...' in
/etc/resolv.conf can be used to specify the order in which services
will be consulted (and which will be consulted at all).  For example,
`hostresorder local bind' says check /etc/hosts, then DNS, but skip
yp alltogether.  It is also possible, using a '/' after a server name
to indicate that a service is authoritative, and further services should
only be consulted if the service was down.  (Not if it couldn't resolve
the address).  hostresorder may also be overridden by the env. variable
HOSTRESORDER, although I'm not as convinced that this is desirable...

--
				Jim Wise
				System Administrator
				GSAPP, Columbia University
				jim@santafe.arch.columbia.edu
				http://www.arch.columbia.edu/~jim
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