DNS server cannot poll its own BIND service

[janl at linpro.no]

Dewey Hylton <dhylton at my-deja.com> tastet:
> ----
> hosts:      files dns
> ----
> If I remove 'files' from that line, resolution fails. I am aware that
> placing 'nameserver 127.0.0.1' in the resolv.conf file will make this
> work, but this shouldn't be necessary. According to the resolver man
> page, regarding /etc/resolv.conf:
> ----
> On a normally configured system, this file should not be necessary.
> The only name server to be queried will be on the local machine, the
> domain name is determined from the host name, and the domain search
> path is con­structed from the domain name.
> ----

This is a interesting passage, and I don't understand what it is trying
to say.  I've always "known" that you need a /etc/resolv.conf to get
DNS resolving to work.

Make a /etc/resolv.conf file as you say and leave it at that.

> So what am I missing here? There's got to be SOMETHING missing. Or
> perhaps the resolver in linux is simply broken. I know this to work
> properly on AIX, HPUX, and Solaris.

You don't have a /etc/resolv.conf file on those machines?  Do you use
YP/NIS/NIS+?  In that case it is doing the resolving for you.

Nicolai