uts: make default hostname configurable, rather than always using "(none)"
authorJosh Triplett <josh@joshtriplett.org>
Wed, 15 Jun 2011 22:08:28 +0000 (15:08 -0700)
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Thu, 16 Jun 2011 03:04:00 +0000 (20:04 -0700)
commitbd5dc17be87b3a3073d50b23802647db3ae3fa8e
treeb8abfc57e4282d943bb2bb21762a868efa29bd20
parentca39599c633fb02aceac31a7e67563612e4fe347
uts: make default hostname configurable, rather than always using "(none)"

The "hostname" tool falls back to setting the hostname to "localhost" if
/etc/hostname does not exist.  Distribution init scripts have the same
fallback.  However, if userspace never calls sethostname, such as when
booting with init=/bin/sh, or otherwise booting a minimal system without
the usual init scripts, the default hostname of "(none)" remains,
unhelpfully appearing in various places such as prompts ("root@(none):~#")
and logs.  Furthermore, "(none)" doesn't typically resolve to anything
useful.

Make the default hostname configurable.  This removes the need for the
standard fallback, provides a useful default for systems that never call
sethostname, and makes minimal systems that much more useful with less
configuration.  Distributions could choose to use "localhost" here to
avoid the fallback, while embedded systems may wish to use a specific
target hostname.

Signed-off-by: Josh Triplett <josh@joshtriplett.org>
Acked-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Acked-by: David Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
Cc: Serge Hallyn <serue@us.ibm.com>
Cc: Kel Modderman <kel@otaku42.de>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
include/linux/uts.h
init/Kconfig