this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

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Linux DNS settings is a total mess (lemdro.id)
submitted 10 months ago by mfat@lemdro.id to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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I recently tried to enable system-wide DNS over https on Fedora. To do so I had to to some research and found out how comfusing it is for the average user (and even experienced users) to change the settings. In fact there are multiple backends messing with system DNS at the same time.

Most major Linux distributions use systemd-resolved for DNS but there is no utility for changing its configuration.

The average user would still try to change DNS settings by editing /etc/relov.conf (which is overwritten and will not survive reboots) or changing settings in Network Manager.

Based on documentation of systemd-resolved, the standard way of adding custom DNS servers is putting so-called 'drop-in' files in /etc/systemd/resolved.conf.d directory, especially when you want to use DNS-over-TLS or DNS-over-https.

Modern browsers use their buit-in DNS settings which adds to the confusion.

I think this is one area that Linux needs more work and more standardization.

How do you think it should be fixed?

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[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 2 points 10 months ago

Programs should be using the system resolver, not parsing that file.

What's a "system resolver"? We're talking about DNS servers. You're either running one locally or not. Either way, you need a way for everybody to know what DNS servers to use, regardless of whether you run one on the machine. That's where resolv.conf comes in.

And that can break things in subtle, unpredictable ways, which is always a headache.

Let's see some examples.

A single global resolv.conf file also will not let you configure different behavior based on interface or on network namespace.

Good, because that has nothing to do with DNS, it's a matter of routing. They're orthogonal issues.