Re: [gentoo-user] Why do we add the local host name to the 127.0.0.1 / ::1 entry in the /etc/hosts file?

[Peter Humphrey]

On Sunday, 21 February 2021 22:23:00 GMT Grant Taylor wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm reading Kerberos - The Definitive Guide[1] and it makes the
>
> following comment:
> > And to make matters worse, some Unix systems map their own hostname
> > to 127.0.0.1 (the loopback IP address).
>
> This makes me think that the local host name /shouldn't/ be included in
> the 127.0.0.1 (or ::1) entry in the /etc/hosts file.
>
> However, according to the Gentoo AMD64 Handbook[2], we are supposed to
> add the local host name to the 127.0.0.1 (and ::1) entry in the
> /etc/hosts file.
>
> Will someone please explain why the Gentoo AMD64 Handbook ~> Gentoo (at
> large) says to add the local host name to the 127.0.0.1 (or ::1) entry
> in the /etc/hosts file?  What was the thought process behind that?
>
> Incidentally, adding the local host name to the 127.0.0.1 (or ::1) entry
> in the /etc/hosts file causes "hostname -i" to return 127.0.0.1 instead
> of the IP address bound to the network interface.

Isn't it a matter of simple logic? The loopback address is just that: the 
machine talking to itself, with no reference to the outside world. Whereas, 
while talking to other machines on the network its address is that of the 
interface. There's no connection between those two.

-- 
Regards,
Peter.