htable converts a host table in the format specified by RFC 952 to the format used by the network library routines. Three files are created as a result of running htable: hosts, networks, and gateways. The hosts file is used by the gethostbyname(3NSL) routines in mapping host names to addresses. The networks file is used by the getnetbyname(3SOCKET) routines in mapping network names to numbers. The gateways file is used by the routing daemon to identify "passive" Internet gateways.

If any of the files localhosts, localnetworks, or localgateways are present in the current directory, the file's contents is prepended to the output file without interpretation. This allows sites to maintain local aliases and entries which are not normally present in the master database.

htable is best used in conjunction with the gettable(1M) program which retrieves the DoD Internet host table from a host.

localhosts

localnetworks

localgateways

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

gettable(1M), gethostbyname(3NSL), getnetbyname(3SOCKET), attributes(5) Harrenstien, Ken, Mary Stahl, and Elizabeth Feinler, DoD Internet Host Table Specification, RFC 952, Network Information Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, California, October 1985.

htable does not properly calculate the gateways file.