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(efaq)Problems talking to certain hosts

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Why can't Emacs talk to certain hosts (or certain hostnames)?
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   The problem may be that Emacs is linked with a wimpier version of
`gethostbyname' than the rest of the programs on the machine.  This is
often manifested as a message on startup of "X server not responding.
Check your `DISPLAY' environment variable." or a message of "Unknown
host" from `open-network-stream'.

   On a Sun, this may be because Emacs had to be linked with the static
C library.  The version of `gethostbyname' in the static C library may
only look in `/etc/hosts' and the NIS (YP) maps, while the version in
the dynamic C library may be smart enough to check DNS in addition to
or instead of NIS.  On a Motorola Delta running System V R3.6, the
version of `gethostbyname' in the standard library works, but the one
that works with NIS doesn't (the one you get with -linet).  Other
operating systems have similar problems.

   Try these options:

   * Explicitly add the host you want to communicate with to
     `/etc/hosts'.

   * Relink Emacs with this line in `src/config.h':

          #define LIBS_SYSTEM -lresolv

   * Replace `gethostbyname' and friends in `libc.a' with more useful
     versions such as the ones in `libresolv.a'.  Then relink Emacs.

   * If you are actually running NIS, make sure that `ypbind' is
     properly told to do DNS lookups with the correct command line
     switch.