<?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*--> <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd"> <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1+ --> <refentry id="hostname"> <refentryinfo> <title>hostname</title> <productname>systemd</productname> </refentryinfo> <refmeta> <refentrytitle>hostname</refentrytitle> <manvolnum>5</manvolnum> </refmeta> <refnamediv> <refname>hostname</refname> <refpurpose>Local hostname configuration file</refpurpose> </refnamediv> <refsynopsisdiv> <para><filename>/etc/hostname</filename></para> </refsynopsisdiv> <refsect1> <title>Description</title> <para>The <filename>/etc/hostname</filename> file configures the name of the local system that is set during boot using the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sethostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry> system call. It should contain a single newline-terminated hostname string. Comments (lines starting with a `#') are ignored. The hostname may be a free-form string up to 64 characters in length; however, it is recommended that it consists only of 7-bit ASCII lower-case characters and no spaces or dots, and limits itself to the format allowed for DNS domain name labels, even though this is not a strict requirement.</para> <para>You may use <citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostnamectl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> to change the value of this file during runtime from the command line. Use <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-firstboot</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> to initialize it on mounted (but not booted) system images.</para> </refsect1> <refsect1> <title>History</title> <para>The simple configuration file format of <filename>/etc/hostname</filename> originates from Debian GNU/Linux.</para> </refsect1> <refsect1> <title>See Also</title> <para> <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sethostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-id</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>machine-info</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>hostnamectl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-hostnamed.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>, <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-firstboot</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> </para> </refsect1> </refentry>