10.2;htable (host tables), revision 2.0, 89/03/31
htable (host tables) -convert NIC standard format host tables
usage: htable [-c <connected-nets>] [-l <local-nets>] <file>
DESCRIPTION
The htable command is used to convert host files in the format specified
in Internet RFC 810 to the format used by the network library routines.
Three files are created as a result of running htable: hosts, networks,
and gateways. The hosts file may be used by the gethostbyname routines
in mapping host names to addresses if the nameserver, named, is not used.
The networks file is used by the getnetent routines in mapping network
names to numbers. The gateways file may be used by the routing daemon in
identifying "passive" Internet gateways; see routed for an explanation.
If any of the files localhosts, localnetworks, or localgateways are
present in the current directory, the file's contents are prepended to
the output file. Of these, only the gateways file is interpreted. This
feature allows sites to maintain local aliases and entries which are not
normally present in the master database. Only one gateway to each
network will be placed in the gateways file; a gateway listed in the
localgateways file will override any in the input file.
OPTIONS
-c connected-nets
If the gateways file is to be used, use this flag to specify a
list of networks to which the host is directly connected. The
networks, separated by commas, may be given by name or in
Internet-standard dot notation, for example,
-c arpanet,128.32,local-ether-net.
htable only includes gateways that are directly connected to
one of the specified networks, or that can be reached from
another gateway on a connected net.
-l local-nets
The argument is a comma-separated list of networks to be
treated as "local". List format rules are the same as for -c.
Information about hosts on local networks is taken only from
the localhosts file. Entries for local hosts from the main
database will be omitted. This allows the localhosts file to
completely override any entries in the input file.
htable is best used in conjunction with the gettable program which
retrieves the NIC database from a host. If the name-domain system
provided network name mapping as well as host name mapping, htable would
no longer be needed.
SEE ALSO
gettable, named;
Configuring and Managing TCP/IP.