[ On Sunday, January 28, 2001 at 15:38:54 ( +0700), Robert Elz wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: CVS commit: pkgsrc 
>
> dig is far and away superior as a diagnostic tool than any of the
> others.

I agree that 'dig' is probably far superior to either 'nslookup' or the
ancient 'host', at least as a diagnostic tool.  I'd still rather use
even the old 'host' as a simple DNS query tool though.

However as a diagnostic tool 'dig' pales in comparison to the new
'host'.  (see for eg. -A, -C, -E, -G, -H, -S, and even -X!)

(I have indeed investigated the features of 'dig', and tested it's
capabilities, I've just never used it for anything because as someone
most familiar with unix-like command-line syntax I've found it's always
easier to control 'host'.  It's usually easier to read the resulting
output too because it's not so often cluttered with useless stuff unless
you really want that stuff, in which case it's extremely obvious how to
ask for it.)

>   My impression has always been that dig if for DNS people
> who want to see the guts of what is happening, and host is for people
> who just want to do a lookup, with little desire to know what is
> really happening.  (And nslookup goes with the remnants of last night's
> fish dinner...)

try 'host -d whatever' and 'host -d -v whatever' with the new one....

anything and everything 'dig' can tell you is there -- i.e. it doesn't
have to leave out the "useless" stuff when it's not useless.

> That might be one reason why people don't like the new version of host
> (though I have never felt the need to fetch it) - if it has started
> saying CNAME and A now instead of nickname and "has address" then it
> is less suitable for what (used to be) its target audience.

If the output of the new 'host' doesn't have the same meaning
instincitively to anyone using the tool then that person needs more
education before they'll understand more than the ultra-basic stuff
anyway....

In any case the output of the new one most closely matches that of the
old one if you always include '-v' in the command line options, so if
you really do like the old version then just do:

	alias host='host -v'

and you'll get the best of both worlds.

-- 
							Greg A. Woods

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