makedbm(1M)makedbm(1M)NAMEmakedbm - make a Network Information System database
SYNOPSIS
nis_input_file] nis_output_name] nis_domain_name] nis_master_name]
infile outfile
database_name
Remarks
The Network Information Service (NIS) was formerly known as Yellow
Pages (yp). Although the name has changed, the functionality of the
service remains the same.
DESCRIPTION
generates databases (maps) for the Network Information System (NIS)
from infile. A database created by consists of two files: and A data‐
base contains records called dbm records composed of key-value pairs.
Each line of infile is converted to a single dbm record; all characters
up to the first tab or space form the key, and the remainder of the
line is the value. If a value read from infile ends with the value for
that record is continued onto the next line. The NIS clients must
interpret the character (which means that does not treat the as if it
precedes a comment). If infile is a hyphen reads standard input.
always generates a special dbm record with the key whose value is the
time of last modification of infile (or the current time, if infile is
This value is also known as the order number of a map, and prints it
for a specified NIS map (see yppoll(1M)).
Another special dbm record created by has the key Its value is usually
the host name retrieved by however, the option can be used to specify a
different value (see gethostname(2)).
If the option is used, another special dbm record with the key is cre‐
ated. When this key exists in the NIS host.by* maps or ipnodes.by*
maps and the NIS host name resolution fails, the process will query the
Internet domain name server, to provide the host name resolution.
Before using the option, it is recommended that the name services
switch, be set to allow NIS host name resolution first. (Note that,
since the process only checks hosts.by* and ipnodes.by* for the exis‐
tence of the key, using the option on any other NIS map will have no
effect. Also, the option should be used on both the *.byname and
*.byaddr maps, not one exclusively.)
If the option is used, another special dbm record created is the key.
If this key exists in an NIS map, will only allow privileged processes
(applications that can create reserved ports) to access the data within
the map.
Options
recognizes the following options and command-line arguments.
Create a special dbm record with the key
This key, which is in the hosts.byname, hosts.byaddr, ipn‐
odes.byname, and ipnodes.byaddr maps, allows the process to
query the Internet domain name server (see named(1M)).
Convert the keys of the given map to lowercase.
This command option allows host name matches to work independent
of character-case distinctions.
Accept connections from secure NIS networks only.
Create a special dbm record with the key
and the value If the option is used, another special dbm record
created is the key. If this key exists in an NIS map, will only
allow privileged processes to access the data within the map
(that is, applications that can create reserved ports).
Create a special dbm record with the key
and the value nis_output_name.
Create a special dbm record with the key
and the value nis_domain_name.
Replace the value of the special dbm record whose key is
with nis_master_name.
Undo the
database_name (that is, write the contents of database_name to
the standard output) one dbm record per line. A single space
separates each key from its value.
EXAMPLES
Shell scripts can be written to convert ASCII files such as to the key-
value form used by For example,
#!/usr/bin/sh
/usr/bin/awk 'BEGIN { FS = ":" } { print $1, $0 }' \
/etc/netgroup | \
makedbm - netgroup
converts the file to a form that is read by to make the NIS map The
keys in the database are names, and the values are the remainders of
the lines in the file.
AUTHOR
was developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.
SEE ALSOdomainname(1), named(1M), ypinit(1M), ypmake(1M), yppoll(1M), gethost‐
name(2), netgroup(4), ypfiles(4).
makedbm(1M)
