NSSWITCH.CONF(5)          FreeBSD File Formats Manual         NSSWITCH.CONF(5)

NAME
     nsswitch.conf -- name-service switch configuration file

DESCRIPTION
     The nsswitch.conf file specifies how the nsdispatch(3) (name-service
     switch dispatcher) routines in the C library should operate.

     The configuration file controls how a process looks up various databases
     containing information regarding hosts, users (passwords), groups, etc.
     Each database comes from a source (such as local files, DNS, and NIS),
     and the order to look up the sources is specified in nsswitch.conf.

     Each entry in nsswitch.conf consists of a database name, and a space sep-
     arated list of sources.  Each source can have an optional trailing crite-
     rion that determines whether the next listed source is used, or the
     search terminates at the current source.  Each criterion consists of one
     or more status codes, and actions to take if that status code occurs.

   Sources
     The following sources are implemented:

     Source  Description
     files   Local files, such as /etc/hosts, and /etc/passwd.
     dns     Internet Domain Name System.  ``hosts'' and `networks' use IN
             class entries, all other databases use HS class (Hesiod) entries.
     nis     NIS (formerly YP)
     compat  support `+/-' in the ``passwd'' and ``group'' databases.  If this
             is present, it must be the only source for that entry.

   Databases
     The following databases are used by the following C library functions:

     Database  Used by
     group     getgrent(3)
     hosts     gethostbyname(3)
     networks  getnetbyname(3)
     passwd    getpwent(3)
     shells    getusershell(3)