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IRS.CONF(5)		      File Formats Manual		   IRS.CONF(5)

NAME
       irs.conf	-- Information Retrieval System	configuration file

SYNOPSIS
       irs.conf

DESCRIPTION
       The  irs(3) functions are a set of routines in the C library which pro-
       vide access to various system maps.  The	maps that irs  currently  con-
       trols  are  the	following:  passwd, group, services, protocols,	hosts,
       networks	and netgroup.  When a program first calls a function that  ac-
       cesses  one  of these maps, the irs configuration file is read, and the
       source of each map is determined	for the	life of	the process.

       If this file does not exist, the	irs routines default  to  using	 local
       sources	for  all  information, with the	exception of the host and net-
       works maps, which use the Domain	Name System (DNS).

       Each record in the file consists	of one line.  A	record consists	 of  a
       map-name,  an access-method and possibly	a (comma delimited) set	of op-
       tions, separated	by tabs	or spaces.  Blank lines, and text between a  #
       and a newline are ignored.

       Available maps:

	     Map name	     Information in map
	     =========	     ==================================
	     passwd	     User authentication information
	     group	     User group	membership information
	     services	     Network services directory
	     protocols	     Network protocols directory
	     hosts	     Network hosts directory
	     networks	     Network "network names" directory
	     netgroup	     Network "host groups" directory

       Available access	methods:

	     Access method   Description
	     =============   =================================================
	     local	     Use a local file, usually in /etc
	     dns	     Use the domain name service (includes hesiod)
	     nis	     Use the Sun-compatible Network Information	Service
	     irp	     Use the IRP daemon	on the localhost.

       Available options:

	     Option	     Description
	     ========	     ================================================
	     continue	     don't stop	searching if you can't find something
	     merge	     don't stop	searching if you CAN find something

       The  continue  option creates "union namespaces"	whereby	subsequent ac-
       cess methods of the same	map type can be	tried  if  a  name  cannot  be
       found using earlier access methods.  This can be	quite confusing	in the
       case  of	host names, since the name to address and address to name map-
       pings can be visibly asymmetric even though the data used by any	 given
       access method is	entirely consistent.  This behavior is,	therefore, not
       the default.

       The  merge option only affects lookups in the groups map.  If set, sub-
       sequent access methods will be tried in order to	cause local  users  to
       appear in NIS (or other remote) groups in addition to the local groups.

EXAMPLE
	     # Get password entries from local file, or	failing	that, NIS
	     passwd	     local   continue
	     passwd	     nis

	     # Build group membership from both	local file, and	NIS.
	     group	     local   continue,merge
	     group	     nis

	     # Services	comes from just	the local file.
	     services	     local

	     protocols	     local

	     # Hosts comes first from DNS, failing that, the local file
	     hosts	     dns     continue
	     hosts	     local

	     # Networks	comes first from the local file, and failing
	     # that the, irp daemon
	     networks	     local   continue
	     networks	     irp

	     netgroup	     local

NOTES
       If  a  local user needs to be in	the local host's "wheel" group but not
       in every	host's "wheel" group, put them in the local host's  /etc/group
       "wheel"	entry  and  set	 up the	"groups" portion of your /etc/irs.conf
       file as:

	     group   local   continue,merge
	     group   nis

       NIS takes a long	time to	time out.  Especially for hosts	if you use the
       -d option to your server's "ypserv" daemon.

       It is important that the	irs.conf file contain an entry for  each  map.
       If a map	is not mentioned in the	irs.conf file, all queries to that map
       will fail.

       The  classic NIS	mechanism for specifying union namespaces is to	add an
       entry to	a local	map file whose name is ``+''.  In IRS,	this  is  done
       via ``continue''	and/or ``merge'' map options.  While this results in a
       small  incompatibility  when  local map files are imported from non-IRS
       systems to IRS systems, there are compensating advantages  in  security
       and configurability.

FILES
       /etc/irs.conf	  The file irs.conf resides in /etc.

SEE ALSO
       groups(5), hosts(5), netgroup(5), networks(5), passwd(5), protocols(5),
       services(5)

BIND 8.1		       November	16, 1997		   IRS.CONF(5)

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