What keeps changing my hostname?

Alad · 2015-09-21 12:13:32

So, this has me stumped. Once again, my hostname changed from "darkstar" to "new-host", causing my X authorization to become invalid and X apps to fail. This happened today after resuming from suspend.

% cat /etc/hostname
darkstar

#
# /etc/hosts: static lookup table for host names
#

#<ip-address>	<hostname.domain.org>	<hostname>
127.0.0.1	localhost.localdomain	localhost darkstar
::1		localhost.localdomain	localhost darkstar

# End of file

(The extra entry in /etc/hosts is because of that annoying bug with Thunderbird launch)

With connman, this was apparently by design:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … e_hostname

With netctl, I'm having the same behaviour, but I can't find any trace of it.

journalctl | grep hostname

Sep 15 18:50:10 localhost systemd[1]: No hostname configured.
Sep 15 18:50:10 localhost systemd[1]: Set hostname to <localhost>.
Sep 15 18:57:27 darkstar systemd[1]: Set hostname to <darkstar>.
Sep 16 21:39:23 darkstar systemd[1]: Set hostname to <darkstar>.
Sep 21 13:56:28 new-host sudo[3856]:    mouse : TTY=pts/1 ; PWD=/home/mouse/netctl ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/hostnamectl set-hostname darkstar
Sep 21 13:56:28 new-host dbus[312]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.hostname1' unit='dbus-org.freedesktop.hostname1.service'
Sep 21 13:56:28 new-host dbus[312]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.hostname1'
Sep 21 13:56:28 darkstar systemd-hostnamed[3859]: Changed host name to 'darkstar'

The Sep 15/16 entries are when I initially configured the hostname. The Sep 21 is when I ran hostnamectl manually to fix my hostname.

netctl also only sets the hostname when so configured in the profile (which I didn't do):

https://projects.archlinux.org/netctl.g … ib/ip#n149

So, if not netctl, what changed my hostname to "new-host" ?

Last edited by Alad (2015-09-21 18:01:08)

nixpunk · 2015-09-21 15:09:06

Seems like it could be getting assigned from your router. Could you possibly be running another network management utility (NM, etc.)?

Alad · 2015-09-21 17:32:48

nixpunk wrote:

Seems like it could be getting assigned from your router. Could you possibly be running another network management utility (NM, etc.)?

No, I only had netctl-ifplugd@enp0s25 and netctl-auto@wlp2s0 enabled.

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/1b5c2 … temctl-log

To find out more, I've disabled both netctl services, and configured wpa_supplicant as described on the wiki. Trying both dhcpcd and dhclient, there was no indication to the hostname, and the `hostname` command showed no difference either. Logs:

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/1b5c2 … client-log

Looking at the router, I found no "new-host" in the system logs, but googling my router make showed e.g:

http://userbase.be/forum/viewtopic.php? … cf#p454687

So you're probably right. Thanks!

(For now, I'm using `xhost si:localuser:$USER` in ~/.xinitrc as a workaround. It's likely better to make my router and/or dhclient behave, somehow)

edit: according to man hostnamectl:

"This tool distinguishes three different hostnames: the high-level "pretty" hostname which might include all kinds of special characters (e.g. "Lennart's Laptop"), the static hostname which is used to initialize the kernel hostname at boot (e.g. "lennarts-laptop"), and the transient hostname which is a default received from network configuration. If a static hostname is set, and is valid (something other than localhost), then the transient hostname is not used."

edit2: http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Softwar … hostnamed/ has some more info, but as far as I can see, none on how to set my hostname in stone.

Last edited by Alad (2015-09-21 18:17:25)

Arch Linux

#1 2015-09-21 12:13:32

What keeps changing my hostname?

#2 2015-09-21 15:09:06

Re: What keeps changing my hostname?

#3 2015-09-21 17:32:48

Re: What keeps changing my hostname?

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