Wrapped long lines, wrapped at sentence boundaries; stripped trailing

[thirdparty/man-pages.git] / man5 / hosts.5

diff --git a/man5/hosts.5 b/man5/hosts.5
index 62a7a52b6fe46f578c46507ce292f134498577aa..522c0954a932f3cf94f4113f03d37647022e8443 100644 (file)
--- a/man5/hosts.5
+++ b/man5/hosts.5
@@ -30,10 +30,12 @@ hosts \- The static table lookup for host names
 .SH SYNOPSIS
 .B /etc/hosts
 .SH DESCRIPTION
-This manual page describes the format of the 
+This manual page describes the format of the
 .I /etc/hosts
-file. This file is a simple text file that associates IP addresses
-with hostnames, one line per IP address. For each host a single
+file.
+This file is a simple text file that associates IP addresses
+with hostnames, one line per IP address.
+For each host a single
 line should be present with the following information:
 .RS
 .PP
@@ -41,39 +43,46 @@ IP_address canonical_hostname [aliases...]
 .RE
 .PP
 Fields of the entry are separated by any number of blanks and/or
-tab characters. Text from a "#" character until the end of the line is
-a comment, and is ignored.  Host names may contain only alphanumeric
-characters, minus signs ("\-"), and periods (".").  They must begin with an
+tab characters.
+Text from a "#" character until the end of the line is
+a comment, and is ignored.
+Host names may contain only alphanumeric
+characters, minus signs ("\-"), and periods (".").
+They must begin with an
 alphabetic character and end with an alphanumeric character.
 Optional aliases provide for name changes, alternate spellings,
 shorter hostnames, or generic hostnames (for example,
 .IR localhost ).
 .PP
 The Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) Server implements the
-Internet name server for UNIX systems. It augments or replaces the
+Internet name server for UNIX systems.
+It augments or replaces the
 .I /etc/hosts
 file or host name lookup, and frees a host from relying on
 .I /etc/hosts
-being up to date and complete. 
+being up to date and complete.
 .PP
 In modern systems, even though the host table has been superseded by
 DNS, it is still widely used for:
 .TP
 .B bootstrapping
 Most systems have a small host table containing the name and address
-information for important hosts on the local network. This is useful
-when DNS is not running, for example during system bootup. 
+information for important hosts on the local network.
+This is useful
+when DNS is not running, for example during system bootup.
 .TP
 .B NIS
 Sites that use NIS use the host table as input to the NIS host
-database. Even though NIS can be used with DNS, most NIS sites still
-use the host table with an entry for all local hosts as a backup. 
-.TP 
+database.
+Even though NIS can be used with DNS, most NIS sites still
+use the host table with an entry for all local hosts as a backup.
+.TP
 .B isolated nodes
 Very small sites that are isolated from the network use the host table
-instead of DNS. If the local information rarely changes, and the
+instead of DNS.
+If the local information rarely changes, and the
 network is not connected to the Internet, DNS offers little
-advantage. 
+advantage.
 .SH EXAMPLE
 .nf
 127.0.0.1       localhost
@@ -90,13 +99,16 @@ RFC\ 952 gave the original format for the host table, though it has
 since changed.
 
 Before the advent of DNS, the host table was the only way of resolving
-hostnames on the fledgling Internet. Indeed, this file could be
+hostnames on the fledgling Internet.
+Indeed, this file could be
 created from the official host data base maintained at the Network
 Information Control Center (NIC), though local changes were often
 required to bring it up to date regarding unofficial aliases and/or
-unknown hosts.  The NIC no longer maintains the hosts.txt files,
+unknown hosts.
+The NIC no longer maintains the hosts.txt files,
 though looking around at the time of writing (circa 2000), there are
-historical hosts.txt files on the WWW. I just found three, from 92,
+historical hosts.txt files on the WWW.
+I just found three, from 92,
 94, and 95.
 .SH FILES
 .I /etc/hosts