NETWORKS(5)               OpenBSD Programmer's Manual              NETWORKS(5)

NAME
     networks - network name data base

DESCRIPTION
     The networks file contains information regarding the known networks which
     comprise the DARPA Internet.  For each network a single line should be
     present with the following information:

           official network name
           network number
           aliases

     Items are separated by any number of blanks and/or tab characters.  A
     ``#'' indicates the beginning of a comment; characters up to the end of
     the line are not interpreted by routines which search the file.  This
     file is normally created from the official network data base maintained
     at the Network Information Control Center (NIC), though local changes may
     be required to bring it up to date regarding unofficial aliases and/or
     unknown networks.

     Network numbers may be specified in the conventional Internet ``.'' (dot)
     notation using the inet_network(3) routine from the Internet address ma-
     nipulation library, inet(3).  Network names may contain any printable
     character other than a field delimiter, newline, or comment character.

     The networks file is largely obsoleted by the network information facili-
     ties of the name server in the following way:

     The system configuration file resolv.conf(5) controls where host name in-
     formation will be searched for.  The mechanism provided permits the ad-
     ministrator to describe the databases to search; the databases currently
     known include yp(5),  DNS and the hosts(5) database.

FILES
     /etc/networks

SEE ALSO
     getnetent(3),  resolver(3),  named(8)

BUGS
     A name server should be used instead of a static file.  Lines in
     /etc/networks are limited to BUFSIZE characters (currently 1024).  Longer
     lines will be ignored.

HISTORY
     The networks file format appeared in 4.2BSD.

OpenBSD 2.6                      June 5, 1993                                1
