mkhpath - produce path data from an /etc/hosts file

/usr/lib/smail/mkhpath [ -n netname ] [ -c cost ] [ -g gateway ] [ -d ] [ - | filename ]

Mkhpath takes as input a hosts file, in the format of the 4.3BSD file /etc/hosts, and creates path data suitable for use by a smail(8) pathalias router (see smail(5) for information on routers). The output is also suitable for merging in with the output of pathalias(8), and can be made suitable as input to pathalias.

The hostnames localhost and loghost are ignored, as are any domain names (names containing dot characters).

This command is useful for sending information about a network's connectivity to hosts that are not on that network. As a general rule, the smail gethostbyname router driver precludes the need for this tool.

The following options are recognized by mkhpath:

-n netname

Generate output which is suitable as input to pathalias(8) as a description of an interconnected network named netname connecting together all hosts named in the hosts file.

-c cost

Set the cost for the network gateway to cost. This may be any valid pathalias cost expression and is only useful with the -n option.

-g gateway

Set the gateway for all of the hosts in the hosts file to gateway. This can be used either with or without the -n option. If neither -g nor -n are used, then the local host is assumed to connect to all of the hosts directly.

-d

Only use lines that contain a domain name (i.e., a name containing one or more dots) as one of the names for a host. Such domain names are not used themselves, but lines that do not contain any domain names are ignored.

If a filename argument is used, then the host information is read from this file. If an argument of - is specified instead, then the standard input is used. Otherwise the file /etc/hosts is used to obtain host information.

pathalias(8), smail(5), smail(8), mkpath(8), and pathmerge(8).

Copyright (C) 1987, 1988 Ronald S. Karr and Landon Curt Noll

Copyright (C) 1992 Ronald S. Karr

See a file COPYING, distributed with the source code, or type smail -bc, to view distribution rights and restrictions associated with this software.