[Update-resolv-devel] Resolvconf news

[Thomas Hood]

Hello all.  I thought I would write to let you know where
we stand with resolvconf.

Resolvconf 0.28 has been released at alioth
   http://alioth.debian.org/projects/update-resolv
It is about as good as I can make it at this time.
Before it goes into Debian, it should be better tested.
If you are interested in this project, please purge any
earlier version of resolvconf you may have installed,
install 0.28, read the README to see how to complete
the installation by hand if you use pump or bind, and
let me know (via this list) how it works for you.

My recommendation to people who don't need to provide
authoritative name service is to install dnsmasq instead of
bind or bind9.  Dnsmasq fully supports resolvconf with no
manual configuration required.  Among the DHCP clients I
recommend dhcp3-client or dhcpcd, since these require no
manual configuration either.

Resolvconf supports static profiles in ifupdown by means
of "dns-nameservers" and "dns-search", etc., options in
/etc/network/interfaces.  If you use ifupdown, I'd like to
(shameless plug) draw your attention to ifupdown-roaming.
  http://panopticon.csustan.edu/thood/ifupdown-roaming.html
Among the ifupdown alternatives, laptop-net is now resolvconf
compatible.  Whereami is OK too provided you don't use the
"bind-forwarders" or "setresolver" utility scripts, but don't
use whereami.

If you experimented with an earlier version of resolvconf
and set up support for bind, note that resolvconf no longer
uses /etc/bind/named.options.sed as the template to which
it applies its changes, but /etc/bind/named.conf.options
itself.  (The processed file is still written to 
/var/run/bind/named.options.)

Packages that want to know about updates to resolver
information can put scripts in /etc/resolvconf/update.d/.
Packages that want to know only about changes to the
libc resolv.conf file proper can now put scripts in
/etc/resolvconf/update-libc.d/ .  The latter directory
was added because the update-libc notifications have to
happen _after_ the resolv.conf file is updated.  The
squid maintainer has already told me that he will add
a squid script to update-libc.d once resolvconf gets into
the archive.

I am not a DD.  Luigi Gangitano <luigi@debian.org>, the squid
maintainer, has agreed to sponsor me as maintainer and has
suggested I find a co-maintainer who is a DD.  I think that
that is a good idea.  Once a co-maintainer is found and resolvconf
gets some more serious beta testing I'd like to get the
package into the archive ASAP.

P.S. I have cc:ed to a couple of people to whom I've sent
resolvconf info in the past.  In future I'll write only to the
list; you guys should subscribe!  Do it via alioth.

--
Thomas Hood