On Thu, 28 Mar 2002, Mark E. Perkins wrote:
> I don't expect my ISP's name server to find a host on my network.... It
> appears to my poor brain that the man page for nsswitch.conf is saying that
> nslookup will first look in my /etc/hosts, then query DNS. If this is not
> what

The manpage says that it "specifies how the nsdispatch(3)
(name-service switch dispatcher) routines in the C library should
operate." nslookup is a utility specifically for querying DNS
servers--it doesn't make sense to try to look up HINFO records from your
/etc/hosts file, for example. However, most other apps will just do a
gethostbyname(), and will use nsswitch.conf. Try "ping" for an
example...
-- 
Name: Dave Huang         |  Mammal, mammal / their names are called /
INet: khym@azeotrope.org |  they raise a paw / the bat, the cat /
FurryMUCK: Dahan         |  dolphin and dog / koala bear and hog -- TMBG
Dahan: Hani G Y+C 26 Y++ L+++ W- C++ T++ A+ E+ S++ V++ F- Q+++ P+ B+ PA+ PL++