On 08Sep2008 21:04, Kevin J. Cummings <cummings(a)kjchome.homeip.net> wrote:
Alan Evans wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 6:40 AM, Steven Tardy <sjt5(a)its.msstate.edu> wrote:
>> kwhiskerz wrote:
>> man hostid
>
> On my Fedora 9...
> $ hostid
> 00000000
>
> Now I haven't bothered to check any other machines, but my initial
> impression is that this is not going to work...
I just checked the hostids on my 2 primary machines on the same local
network. They just seem to be encodings of the machine's IP addresses.
And since both are PC class machines, the addresses look to be syllable
swapped (but not byte swapped).
192.168.6.94 and 192.168.6.106
a8c05e06 and a8c06a06
So, I have to ask, does the machine you tried it on have an IP address?
So, let us turn to the docs: man hostid says:
hostid - print the numeric identifier for the current host
[...]
The full documentation for hostid is maintained as a Texinfo manual
[...]
Gah. I hate this info-so-no-f'n-man-page rubbish!
But let's go: info hostid:
21.4 `hostid': Print numeric host identifier.
=============================================
`hostid' prints the numeric identifier of the current host in
hexadecimal. This command accepts no arguments. The only options are
`--help' and `--version'. *Note Common options::.
For example, here's what it prints on one system I use:
$ hostid
1bac013d
On that system, the 32-bit quantity happens to be closely related to the
system's Internet address, but that isn't always the case.
Gah! Again!
I don't think I'd rely on hostid for anything:-(
Cheers,
--
Cameron Simpson <cs(a)zip.com.au> DoD#743
http://www.cskk.ezoshosting.com/cs/
A good newspaper is never good enough, but a lousy newspaper is a joy
forever. - Garrison Keillor