Linux Mint 19 Beta Vs. Linux Mint 18.x hosts file What is different?

[gregoryshock]

I'm not a guy who normally does bug reports. I barely even know how to write a proper bug report. With that being said I don't think this is a bug persay to report. But it is going to be a problem for me if I upgrade to Linux Mint 19 when it officially comes out. I use a hosts script to block bad things on the internet. You can get the hosts file from this link: https://switchedtolinux.com/privacy-resources/ I've been using this hosts file in my /etc/ directory for several months without a problem. I was running it on Linux Mint 18.3. But when I installed it on Linux Mint 19 beta it blocked my access to the internet. I did a lot of testing so I'm about 90% sure that it's the hosts file that is causing the issue. What I don't understand is what could be different about Linux Mint 19 that would cause the same hosts file script to block access. I checked another computer and it had complete access to the internet. I still had access to my router. I tried to reboot the router., and that didn't help. As soon as changed the hosts file back to what came with Linux Mint 19, and rebooted for changes to take effect I got internet access back. I did this 3 times, because I have Linux Mint 19, xfce, mate, and cinnamon all installed on the same drive. The results stayed consistent. Once again I'm using the same hosts file I always have, which means It's something in Linux Mint 19.

[catweazel]

I'm not a guy who normally does bug reports. I barely even know how to write a proper bug report. With that being said I don't think this is a bug persay to report. But it is going to be a problem for me if I upgrade to Linux Mint 19 when it officially comes out.

Post your comments on the Mint blog.

Linux Mint 19 "Tara" Cinnamon – BETA Release
Linux Mint 19 "Tara" MATE – BETA Release
Linux Mint 19 "Tara" Xfce – BETA Release

[Mattyboy]

I'm using this on 19 without issue.
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

I haven't played with it but the only thing that comes to mind is yours is redirecting back to home 127.0.0.1 while this one is 'null-ing' the DNS... 0.0.0.0

Dunno, I'm no expert.

[gregoryshock]

I'm using this on 19 without issue.
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

I haven't played with it but the only thing that comes to mind is yours is redirecting back to home 127.0.0.1 while this one is 'null-ing' the DNS... 0.0.0.0

Dunno, I'm no expert.

I'm not an expert either. I'm going to test my same hosts file on Linux Lite 4.0 because it is also based on Ubuntu 18.04. I talked with Switched to Linux about the 0.0.0.0 verses the 127.0.0.1. I looked around to find the youtube comments.

Source of our comments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXXJbbghNmA

Switched to Linux
Published on Apr 8, 2017
Tom I'm not sure which video you talked about the Hosts file. I got a question about that file. In the howtogeek article. They used 0.0.0.0 but you used 127.0.0.1. Could you clarify why you chose to use 127.0.0.1 instead of 0.0.0.0?

Switched to Linux
1 year ago
They will do the same thing, but 0.0.0.0 is an unconfigured address in most cases so it is possible to be co-opted by malware, but 127.0.0.1 is always set to the home address of the computer itself. Effectively, 127.0.0.1 will look to your computer, see nothing in fizzle. 0.0.0.0 will also fizzle, but that address is not configured...you never want to do anything on a computer to an unconfigured port or variable even if it seems to work; that is how holes are created that allow malicious code to work.

[Mattyboy]

1 year ago
They will do the same thing, but 0.0.0.0 is an unconfigured address in most cases so it is possible to be co-opted by malware, but 127.0.0.1 is always set to the home address of the computer itself. Effectively, 127.0.0.1 will look to your computer, see nothing in fizzle. 0.0.0.0 will also fizzle, but that address is not configured...you never want to do anything on a computer to an unconfigured port or variable even if it seems to work; that is how holes are created that allow malicious code to work.

Makes sense that.

I just tried it in 19

Code: Select all

127.0.0.1 google.co.uk

and that killed everything instantly. Using 0.0.0.0 works fine.

So its not 'you'. Post it on the mint blog with a link to this thread. See what they have to say. https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3581

[gregoryshock]

1 year ago
They will do the same thing, but 0.0.0.0 is an unconfigured address in most cases so it is possible to be co-opted by malware, but 127.0.0.1 is always set to the home address of the computer itself. Effectively, 127.0.0.1 will look to your computer, see nothing in fizzle. 0.0.0.0 will also fizzle, but that address is not configured...you never want to do anything on a computer to an unconfigured port or variable even if it seems to work; that is how holes are created that allow malicious code to work.

Makes sense that.

I just tried it in 19

Code: Select all

127.0.0.1 google.co.uk

and that killed everything instantly. Using 0.0.0.0 works fine.

So its not 'you'. Post it on the mint blog with a link to this thread. See what they have to say. https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3581

I'm going to do that.

Today I tested my hosts file out in Linux Lite 4.0 and Ubuntu 18.04. (Linux Lite is based on Ubuntu 18.04) Linux Lite was fine. No issues. Ubuntu 18.04 on the other hand acted strange with it. At first I thought haha! It's a problem with the Ubuntu base. But then I tried something a little different. I built the Ubuntu hosts file by adding the blocking script so that first several lines of the original remained at the top of the file. Rebooted and everything seemed to work fine. I decided to go back and try the same method on Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon. But Linux Mint Cinnamon did not respond favourably! It lost internet connection. Strange!

Update:
I posted a comment and a link to this in the blog.

[switchedtolinux]

Hi all,

I developed the hosts script posted. I can confirm that something is up. I would probably say this is something wrong in Ubuntu or Mint.

Changing all of the block entries to 0.0.0.0 does work, but I stand by that not being the best, 127.0.0.1 is best.

It is not all of the file. It is certain lines, but since there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 95000 lines I can't check it all. I know that something in the 'c' 'n' and 'p' block of the first set of blocks messes up. I am still looking into which lines could be causing the problem.

As a temporary measure, converting it to 0.0.0.0 will work but do not do this if there are any other servers or network equipment running on the system as the blocked requests will be sent to all of them. I am not sure if this is in all of Ubuntu 18.04 or just in Mint. I'll post another response if I get something working, but this might also solve the issue with Windows; I have some reports that Windows 8 and Windows 10 do not work with the script either.

[gm10]

1 year ago
They will do the same thing, but 0.0.0.0 is an unconfigured address in most cases so it is possible to be co-opted by malware, but 127.0.0.1 is always set to the home address of the computer itself. Effectively, 127.0.0.1 will look to your computer, see nothing in fizzle. 0.0.0.0 will also fizzle, but that address is not configured...you never want to do anything on a computer to an unconfigured port or variable even if it seems to work; that is how holes are created that allow malicious code to work.

Makes sense that.

Does it? Reads like a load of nonsense to me. Explain what an "unconfigured" address is and how it can be "co-opted by malware"? Because I don't have the slightest idea.

I just tried it in 19

Code: Select all

127.0.0.1 google.co.uk

and that killed everything instantly. Using 0.0.0.0 works fine.

Tried it out of curiosity just now, no problem whatsoever with that line in my hosts file on Mint 19, so the issue you guys are having must be a combination of other factors.

As to the post just above, 0 is not a broadcast address, there's no way packets addressed to 0 get sent out over your local network (unless you are running a broken network stack). The broadcast address for 0 is 255.255.255.255. Try to ping 0 and you'll see it goes to 127.0.0.1.