In message <16535.62819.684395.289599@bonnet.wsrcc.com>, "Wolfgang S. Rupprecht
" writes:
>
>Steven M. Bellovin writes:
>> The particular problem case is us.pool.ntp.org, which selects among a 
>> large set of servers.  I suppose I could write a little daemon that 
>> queries for it (and other important servers) after things are booted, 
>> and changes the "static" entries in /etc/hosts...
>
>If you are going to query something that isn't your own named, it
>sounds like a bit more work than I would do for a quick hack.
>
>Come to think of it, I wonder is a simple "host" waiting to resolve
>the hostname would be good enough as a self-adjusting wait for the
>nameserver to come up.  eg.  before doing the ntpdate, run:
>
>    host -w -W 120 us.pool.ntp.org || echo "named is sucking mud again"
>

Hmm -- that's a thought, though it will make disconnected boots even 
slower than they are today.

Btw, I don't see a -W option to host on 2.0beta or -current.


		--Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb