dig Resolver Options (init, defnam and dnsrch)

[Marco]

I've been playing around with dig's resolver options. I'm particularly
interested in dig's 2nd line of output...

   ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch

1. What does init mean? I can't find any definition of it. I've read
    dig(1), hostname(7) and resolver(3) and searched Google.

My 2nd problem is that, while I understand the defnam and dnsrch flags
theoretically, it never seems to matter whether they're set or not.

I thought defnam (+[no]defname) determined whether my domain name,
markhawkes.com, would be appended to whatever host I queried. Thus...

   $ dig pluto

....would actually be...

   $ dig pluto.markhawkes.com

Instead, I get a nonexistent domain error...

$ dig pluto

; <<>> DiG 8.2 <<>> pluto
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 4
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; QUERY SECTION:
;;      pluto, type = A, class = IN

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
..      2h51m5s IN SOA  a.root-servers.net. nstld.verisign-grs.com. (
                                 2003102201      ; serial
                                 30M             ; refresh
                                 15M             ; retry
                                 1W              ; expiry
                                 1D )            ; minimum

;; Total query time: 14 msec
;; FROM: mercury to SERVER: default -- 192.168.0.1
;; WHEN: Thu Oct 23 09:39:07 2003
;; MSG SIZE  sent: 23  rcvd: 98


I have to specify the FQDN to make it work...


$ dig pluto.markhawkes.com +noauthor +nostats +noaddit

; <<>> DiG 8.2 <<>> pluto.markhawkes.com +noauthor +noaddit +nostats
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 57895
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 1
;; QUERY SECTION:
;;      pluto.markhawkes.com, type = A, class = IN

;; ANSWER SECTION:
pluto.markhawkes.com.   3D IN A         192.168.0.6


Here's my resolv.conf, just FYI...

   $ cat /etc/resolv.conf
   domain markhawkes.com
   nameserver 192.168.0.1

Can anyone show a dig example where +[no]defname and +[no]search
actually make a difference?

Many thanks,
Marco