--- net-tools-1.60/man/en_US/hostname.1.gethostbyname	2005-10-14 11:33:41.000000000 +0200

+++ net-tools-1.60/man/en_US/hostname.1	2005-10-15 11:46:14.646697600 +0200

@@ -99,6 +99,32 @@

 complete FQDN of the system is returned with

 .BR "hostname \-\-fqdn" .

+.LP

+The function 

+.BR gethostname(2)

+is used to get the hostname.  Only when the 

+.BR "hostname \-s" 

+is called will 

+.BR gethostbyname(3)

+be called.  The difference in 

+.BR gethostname(2)

+and

+.BR gethostbyname(3)

+is that

+.BR gethostbyname(3)

+is network aware, so it consults 

+.IR /etc/nsswitch.conf

+and

+.IR /etc/host.conf

+to decide whether to read information in

+.IR /etc/sysconfig/network

+or

+.IR /etc/hosts

+. To add another dimension to this,

+the 

+.B hostname 

+is also set when the network interface is brought up.

+

 .SS "SET NAME"

 When called with one argument or with the 

 .B \-\-file