hosts - wrapper for libc which provides defining host aliases in a per-user file note: - if your libc does support it you may want to set HOSTALIASES instead of using this wrapper, see gethostbyname(3). compilation: $ git clone https://github.com/figiel/hosts.git $ cd hosts $ make installation (example for bash): $ mkdir ~/bin $ cp libhostspriv.so ~/bin $ echo 'export LD_PRELOAD=~/bin/libhostspriv.so' >> ~/.bashrc $ logout usage: $ echo "127.0.0.1 new_name" >> ~/.hosts $ nc -vz new_name 80 limitations: - doesn't work with suid programs for obvious reasons, that includes ping unfortunately. feedback: - if you've found any bugs, feel free to fork & request a pull with patch