[SOLVED] Something keeps editing my resolv.conf file

07-28-2008	#1 (permalink)
hazel Linux User Join Date: May 2004 Location: Harrow, UK Posts: 492	[SOLVED] Something keeps editing my resolv.conf file I have an annoying problem. Since I stopped using pppoe in Ubuntu and just used my existing router connection, some startup script or other keeps editing my resolv.conf so that the router is named as the nameserver. Result: my browser doesn't work. I have to copy back by hand the version of the file with the correct namesavers (which I keep saved under another name). As far as I can see, the only script which could be doing this is the dhclient script which I assume is run by ifup (eth0 is specified as dhcp). I tried changing /etc/network/interfaces to make eth0 static so that dhclient wouldn't run (I used the address and mask that my router normally allocates to it) but then it failed to come up at all. How do I stop this joker from messing up my configuration? __________________ "I'm just a little old lady; don't try to dazzle me with jargon!"

07-28-2008	#2 (permalink)
rcgreen Linux Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: the hills Posts: 714	You can edit dhclient.conf to alter this behavior. Mine has Code: prepend domain-name-servers 127.0.0.1; because I run a caching nameserver on the local host. Prepend whatever server you want to appear at the top of /etc/resolv.conf

07-30-2008	#3 (permalink)
hazel Linux User Join Date: May 2004 Location: Harrow, UK Posts: 492	I tried that but it makes no difference. I still ended up having to do it by hand. __________________ "I'm just a little old lady; don't try to dazzle me with jargon!"

07-30-2008

#4 (permalink)

HROAdmin26

Linux Engineer

Join Date: Nov 2007

Posts: 1,135

When you are using DHCP, the default config is to let the DHCP script modify the resolv.conf with values received from the DHCP server.

Where you disable/enable this varies by distro - I am sure Ubuntu's options are documented on Ubuntu's site or searchable on Google.

Reading openSuSE's dhclient-script file, I can see that that settings are available in:

/etc/sysconfig/network/config
/etc/sysconfig/network/dhcp

From /sbin/dhclient-script:

Code:

make_resolv_conf() {
  # first, look if we are allowed to modify resolv.conf:
  eval `grep "^MODIFY_RESOLV_CONF_DYNAMICALLY=" /etc/sysconfig/network/config`
  eval `grep "^DHCLIENT_MODIFY_RESOLV_CONF=" /etc/sysconfig/network/dhcp`

  test "$MODIFY_RESOLV_CONF_DYNAMICALLY" = no \
    -o "$DHCLIENT_MODIFY_RESOLV_CONF" = no \
    && return

  # It might be useful to have more than one domain in the searchlist. To
  # achieve this set DHCLIENT_KEEP_SEARCHLIST in /etc/sysconfig/network/dhcp to "yes"
  # and put the additional domains in the searchlist of the *unmodified*
  # /etc/resolv.conf. When the client is configured via DHCP the old
  # searchlist will be appended to the new one.
  oldsearchlist=""
  eval `grep "^DHCLIENT_KEEP_SEARCHLIST=" /etc/sysconfig/network/dhcp`
  if test "$DHCLIENT_KEEP_SEARCHLIST" = yes ; then
    oldsearchlist=`while read line; do 
                        case $line in search*) oldsearchlist=${line/search /};; esac; 
                done< /etc/resolv.conf; 
                echo -n $oldsearchlist`
  fi

07-30-2008	#5 (permalink)
coopstah13 Linux Guru Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: NH, USA Posts: 1,753	edit /etc/resolv.conf so it has the right information, then Code: sudo chattr +i /etc/resolv.conf now the file is no longer able to be modified, even by root

07-31-2008

#6 (permalink)

hazel

Linux User

Join Date: May 2004

Location: Harrow, UK

Posts: 492

Quote:

Originally Posted by HROAdmin26

Thanks, that's just what I needed. According to my dhcp man pages, the Ubuntu way to do it is to create a script in /etc/dhcp3/dhclient-enter-hooks.d that redefines the make_resolv_conf function (which the dhclient script uses to edit the resolv.conf file). So I redefined the function to run true and exit and now the file is no longer modified.

The coopstahl3 solution is even simpler of course but it seems just a little bit like cheating!

__________________
"I'm just a little old lady; don't try to dazzle me with jargon!"

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