The Core Dump
It updates the blog, or it gets the hose again.
Editing the hosts file in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
I’m posting this in the hope it’ll save somebody else a few minutes of their time.
Apparently Apple has decided to Think Different about the hosts file in Mac OS X Lion. If you want to put in your own entries, they will be politely ignored unless you put them first in the file.
Editing the hosts file allows you to do useful things like preview a site on a production server before flipping the switch on the DNS so you can suss out any errors before the world sees the site, or to access the backend of a CMS on an origin server for updates when the live site is cached by something like Akamai.
To illustrate, here’s the original Mac OS X hosts file, located at /etc/hosts:
##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1 localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1 localhost
fe80::1%lo0 localhost
If you were to do the standard UNIX thing of appending your own changes at the bottom—which is what you would do if you’ve spent any time around UNIX machines—you’d end up with something like:
##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1 localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1 localhost
fe80::1%lo0 localhost
192.168.1.15 thecoredump.org
But alas, this configuration will in fact not do anything.
The reason is that Apple has apparently decided you must put your own entries at the top. So you must do this instead:
192.168.1.15 thecoredump.org
##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1 localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1 localhost
fe80::1%lo0 localhost
I don’t know why this is. I wasn’t in that meeting. From my Googling around it seems nobody from the documentation team at Apple were in that meeting either.
So if you want to control your hosts file in Mac OS X Lion, you must put your own entries first and it will work like you expect.
You don’t have to flush the cache or anything. Soon as you save the configuration, it goes to work.
Hope this saves somebody on the Internet some time.
Posted Friday, 30 September, 2011 by Nic Lindh
For your enjoyment, the 10 latest posts
Cloudy with a chance of broken
All Nic wants for WWDC is sync that actually works
Book roundup, part eleven
Another book roundup, including some stellar athletes and soldiers, what might be the most jaded, soul-weary protagonist ever, and some grimdark fantasy.
Paywalls and tinfoil hats
The Internet is getting creepy, and Nic is breaking out his tinfoil hat after newspaper paywalls push him over the edge.
OK then, Mr. Gekko
Nic is tired of tech sites obsessing over Apple’s financials and business strategy. So very tired.
Read this book: Salt Sugar Fat
Nic reads a book about the processed food industry and is incensed.
The cargo cult of technology
Computers are complicated. This brings out the irrational in people.
Seen a Rechthaberei lately?
Nic proposes the loan word Rechthaberei be incorporated into American English.
Book roundup, part ten
The Core Dump is back! Books were read during the hiatus. Includes The Coldest Winter, Oh, Myyy!, Tough Sh*t, The Revolution Was Televised, The Rook, Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore, Gun Machine, Fortress Frontier, Standing in Another Man’s Grave, and The Memory of Light.
The Core Dump is hibernating
This site will return in February.
Book roundup, part nine
From a true patriot to a world-weary detective, a dead god, and a civilization about to sublime from the galaxy, this book roundup spans the gamut. Includes Where Men Win Glory, Wild, Inside the Box, The Black Box, Three Parts Dead, Red Country, and The Hydrogen Sonata.
Put me in your feed reader
Niclas Lindh.com
Amazon wishlist
Twitter
Google Plus