Todd Vierling writes:
> On Tue, 19 Jan 1999, Luke Mewburn wrote:
> 
> : * gethostbyname() and gethostbyaddr() invoke nsdispatch with a
> :   defaults argument that is set to lookup from `dns files'
> 
> ...and what about `passwd'?

i forgot to mention that in my post, but you should have inferred that
from my most recent commit messages.

if you read the updated nsswitch.conf(5), you will notice that the
default rules (as defined by the relevant functions and not by the
nsdispatcher - thus retaining my criteria that nsswitch remains a
generic function without knowledge of the actual functions calling
it) are:
	hosts:		dns files
	passwd:		compat
	passwd_compat:	nis

the only default i did not retain was `networks: dns files' because
that has a known lossage profile (viz route(8) in /etc/rc at boot).

people who don't like those defaults (like myself) will have enough
of a clue to create /etc/nsswitch.conf.