man/hostname.xml

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<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">

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<refentry id="hostname">
  <refentryinfo>
    <title>hostname</title>
    <productname>systemd</productname>

    <authorgroup>
      <author>
        <contrib>Developer</contrib>
        <firstname>Lennart</firstname>
        <surname>Poettering</surname>
        <email>lennart@poettering.net</email>
      </author>
    </authorgroup>
  </refentryinfo>

  <refmeta>
    <refentrytitle>hostname</refentrytitle>
    <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
  </refmeta>

  <refnamediv>
    <refname>hostname</refname>
    <refpurpose>Local hostname configuration file</refpurpose>
  </refnamediv>

  <refsynopsisdiv>
    <para><filename>/etc/hostname</filename></para>
  </refsynopsisdiv>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Description</title>

    <para>The <filename>/etc/hostname</filename> file configures the
    name of the local system that is set during boot using the
    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sethostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
    system call. It should contain a single newline-terminated
    hostname string.  Comments (lines starting with a `#') are ignored.
    The hostname may be a free-form string up to 64 characters in length;
    however, it is recommended that it consists only of 7-bit ASCII lower-case
    characters and no spaces or dots, and limits itself to the format allowed
    for DNS domain name labels, even though this is not a strict
    requirement.</para>

    <para>Depending on the operating system, other configuration files
    might be checked for configuration of the hostname as well,
    however only as fallback.</para>

    <para>You may use
    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostnamectl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
    to change the value of this file during runtime from the command
    line. Use
    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-firstboot</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
    to initialize it on mounted (but not booted) system images.</para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
    <title>History</title>

    <para>The simple configuration file format of
    <filename>/etc/hostname</filename> originates from Debian
    GNU/Linux.</para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
      <title>See Also</title>
      <para>
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sethostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-id</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-info</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostnamectl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-hostnamed.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-firstboot</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
      </para>
  </refsect1>

</refentry>