Теперь понятно, почему у Поттеринга всё так... своеобразно

G+ принёс:

"Hay, lazyplus! Traditionally on Unix the IPv4 address "127.0.0.1" is assigned the name "localhost" as we all know, via /etc/hosts. I am wondering if there's more than just "tradition" as origin for precisely this name "localhost" for the loopback address? Anybody knows something more reliable, like an RFC about the precise naming "localhost"? Couldn't really find any...

And also, some distributions define other aliases for the loopback address, such as "localhost.localdomain" and similar. Then, for IPv6 some distributions define "localhost6", or "ip6-localhost" or even "localhost6.localdomain6" (yikes, fedora!) and suchlike. The worst thing is that they all do it differently... And finally, some distributions define names for a couple of other magic IPv6 addresses via /etc/hosts.

Now, how much of that is actually more than a distribution-specific bike-shedding exercise? How much of this actually has specs? How much of this actually has good reasons to exist? And why do the distributions differ so much in this regard?

Any hints appreciated!"

Если честно, я чуть не хватился за сердце и хотел было ткнуть его носом в нужный RFC в комментах, но хвала яйцам, всё обошлось. Уже без меня указали. Но как-то ссыкотно, знаете ли. Я не удивлюсь, если он всё равно по-своему реализует. Притом только потому, что не осилил и так ему было удобнее.