Re: proposal : remove hostname from coreutils

[Jim Meyering]

Gabriel Barazer <address@hidden> wrote:
> The "hostname" utility in coreutils-6.9 is still a very old version,
> and the "hostname" from net-tools 1.60 (released ~2001) is a better
> featured utility. Since net-tools doesn't seem to be maintained
> anymore, what about updating the "hostname" sources from coreutils, or
> simply remove it ? It would avoid duplicate tools, since we can't even
> disable its compilation at configure time.

Ah, but now you can -- at least with the latest sources from git.
I expect to add it to the list (currently arch,su) of programs *not*
built by default.

>From NEWS:

    You can inhibit the compilation and installation of selected programs
    at configure time.  For example, to avoid installing "hostname" and
    "uptime", use ./configure --enable-no-install-program=hostname,uptime
    Note: currently, "make check" passes, even when arch and su are not
    built (that's the new default).  However, if you inhibit the building
    and installation of other programs, don't be surprised if some parts
    of "make check" fail.