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I'm using Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

By typing the command:

hostname --fqdn

I get the following

hostname: Name or service not known

As requested by Raphaël Hertzog

# /etc/nsswitch.conf
#
# Example configuration of GNU Name Service Switch functionality.
# If you have the `glibc-doc-reference' and `info' packages installed, try:
# `info libc "Name Service Switch"' for information about this file.

passwd:         compat
group:          compat
shadow:         compat

hosts:          files dns
networks:       files

protocols:      db files
services:       db files
ethers:         db files
rpc:            db files

netgroup:       nis

Thanks for the replies guys!

This is why I need it, I cannot install global succesfully!

Setting up global (5.7.1-1) ...
hostname: Name or service not known
dpkg: error processing global (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 global
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Any ideas what this means? can I fix this?

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Why do you want a FQDN? If you have to ask, you probably don't want one or can't make use of one or both. – msw Jul 8 '10 at 0:00
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3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Can you provide the content of /etc/nsswitch.conf ?

It looks like /etc/nsswitch.conf has a bad value for the "hosts" line. Does it start with "files" ?

Otherwise the FQDN is set by editing /etc/hosts and putting the FQDN on the line where the hostname appears. Suppose you have an hostname "foo", and you find a line:

127.0.0.1 foo

You would edit it like this:

127.0.0.1 foo.localdomain foo

foo.localdomain would be your new FQDN.

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I have included the contents of that file as you asked! THANKS for the reply!! :) – RadiantHex Jul 8 '10 at 9:17
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up vote 1 down vote

edit /etc/hosts to add your FQDN

Information on syntax located here: http://www.faqs.org/docs/securing/chap9sec95.html

update: reading over your question again it almost sounds like you either don't have your path set right, or there is something wrong with the hostname program.

do 'which hostname'

it should return with the path '/bin/hostname'

if that works try the command again like,

'/bin/hostname --fqdn'

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Thanks!!! Sorry if I ask this, but how do I find out my FQDN? – RadiantHex Jul 7 '10 at 23:07
well this stands for 'Fully Qualified Domain Name' superuser.com is a FQDN. If you own a domain, you could use it, otherwise you can just make up something if you are on an internal network. – Mudfly Jul 7 '10 at 23:11
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Thanks @Mudfly! I tried your instructions, the last commands returns "hostname: Name or service not known" again! – RadiantHex Jul 7 '10 at 23:12
Without more info its hard to know the conditions of your problem. EG: is this a local install, are you logged in over ssh, are you using a user account or logged in root? You might want to visit ubuntuforums.org and search for others who have solved similar issues. – Mudfly Jul 7 '10 at 23:23
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This is taking a wild jump here but, Ubuntu favors using sudo over the use of root. It is quite possible that the shell isnt setup correctly. To test this is very simple. First you can do 'ls -al /root/' and see if you can see a .bashrc Second if you don't have a .bashrc copy it from skel 'cp /etc/skel/.bashrc ./' you can do this even if you already have the file. Third do '/bin/bash' to make sure you are running bash. Finally try your original command again, you should be running in a fully configured bash shell. – Mudfly Jul 7 '10 at 23:42
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up vote 0 down vote

Now that you show the context of the failure, it's possible that the failure is unrelated to this.

Please copy and paste the part of /var/lib/dpkg/info/global.postint that is calling "hostname".

Can you show /etc/hosts and /etc/hostname as well?

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