network-manager updates /etc/hosts, breaks hostname -f

[LaMont Jones]

Binary package hint: network-manager

Since upgrading to maverick, network-manager adds a line at the top of /etc/hosts when a connection comes up, and that line lacks anything other than the first component of the FQDN, which breaks hostname -f.

How can I get network-manager to quit messing with this file?

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Seems like this was already reported as bug 632896.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Ok so it looks like this isn't quite the same thing.

FWIW, I can make sure the domain name and hostname appear properly in hostname / hostname -f by setting /etc/domainname as well as /etc/hostname, and in that case NM properly add a line for both in /etc/hosts:

10.10.10.16 demeter.cyphermox.net demeter # Added by NetworkManager

However, this doesn't fix the issue that /etc/hosts gets changed, and bug 632896 still applies.

There is a possible workaround in adding:
[keyfile]
hostname = <hostname>

in /etc/NetworkManager/nm-system-settings.conf, but I wasn't able to have that work to stop /etc/hosts from being modified.

[Malte Helmert (helmert)]

I have the same issue. As discussed in bug 663597, setting /etc/domainname doesn't work for me; hostname -f still reports the wrong result.

I now worked around this by putting the FQDN into /etc/hostname (rather than just the plain hostname), and so far I've had no problem with this. However, according to "man hostname", setting /etc/hostname to the FQDN is wrong:

     /etc/hostname This file should only contain the hostname and not the
       full FQDN.

but it's the only way I could get hostname -f to work.

(BTW, If someone could have a look at bug 663597 and change its status from "opinion" to something else or at least give a reason why that status makes sense, that would be appreciated.)

[Vadim Gutnik (gutnik)]

I have the same issue. Putting fqdn into /etc/hostname isn't really an option because this is a laptop and the local
network changes.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

Fixed in Precise.