Goodhosts' rewrite of the hosts file renders MAMP incapable of managing its entries

Question

Goodhosts' rewrite of the hosts file renders MAMP incapable of managing its entries

Opened this issue 4 years ago · 30 comments

I am running MAMP Pro and VVV simultaneously, and sometimes concurrently. When MAMP Pro has first crack at the /etc/hosts file, it ends up looking like this:

127.0.0.1	scratch.test	# MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!
::1		scratch.test	# MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!
127.0.0.1	clean.test	# MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!
::1		clean.test	# MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!
127.0.0.1	cnmd.test	# MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!
::1		cnmd.test	# MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!
127.0.0.1	boilerplate.test	# MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!
::1		boilerplate.test	# MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!
127.0.0.1	macster.local	# MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!
::1		macster.local	# MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!

etc etc. Adding and removing hosts via MAMP Pro works correctly, and shutting down MAMP Pro removes all entries it controls. All fine.

When I fire up MAMP Pro and then fire up VVV, /etc/hosts gets rewritten so that I end up with this

::1 boilerplate.test clean.test cnmd.test macster.local scratch.test # MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!
127.0.0.1 boilerplate.test clean.test cnmd.test macster.local scratch.test # MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!  MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!
192.168.50.4 vvv vvv.test rfa.test # VAGRANT: 32549be2774dded0939569e71b56d8f1 (default) / 465e8518-e2b5-4ae0-9348-e56e8662ab2d
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost

IOW they have gone from one-per-line pairs to a single entry. This rewrite prevents MAMP from being able to manage its entries.

As technically correct as this may be, this is a bad scene. Is there a way to have GH just do its thing without modifying anything else?

luthermonson commented 3 years ago

oi vey

Answer 1 · 2020-12-28T18:03:07.000Z

i dont think you can use the --clean functionality with a rig like mamp then, the only way to get here is through a clean flag right? i am not missing something that got you here via other use?

Answer 2 · 2020-12-28T18:45:33.000Z

I think this needs migrating to the vagrant repo at https://github.com/goodhosts/vagrant

Answer 3 · 2020-12-28T18:46:48.000Z

ohhh that makes sense, ill copy/paste and link it and close this

Answer 4 · 2020-12-29T10:08:42.000Z

To me the issue is not just the plugin that does a clean but the fact that the clean command, cleans all the file and just the parts that are involved with goodhosts.

Clean command was implemented to avoid multiple injection of the same rule by goodhosts as a previous ticket so is a problem in both the projects @luthermonson

Answer 5 · 2020-12-29T18:29:00.000Z

you think there should be a #goodhosts comment or something and just keep everything 100% separate from everyone else?

Answer 6 · 2020-12-29T18:29:56.000Z

yes in this way the user can use clean without worrying.

Answer 7 · 2020-12-29T18:36:43.000Z

@Mte90 @theMikeD let's do it, if we do some sort of #MANAGED BY GOODHOSTS comment block and only change entries in there it would make the most sense but i feel this requires a 1.1.x version bump, agree?

Answer 8 · 2020-12-29T18:37:46.000Z

Yes to me is good so I can do a new release of the plugin with that and add a flag to enable or not the clean at all.

Answer 9 · 2020-12-29T19:05:26.000Z

This sounds good!

Answer 10 · 2021-01-09T17:51:11.000Z

Whats the next step?

Answer 11 · 2021-01-11T20:22:13.000Z

find time to add the feature :D PRs welcome~

Answer 12 · 2021-01-11T20:33:11.000Z

Luther I think the problem is less time and willingness and more that they don’t know how to do it, I know that’s definitely the case here. What would such a PR look like?

…

On Mon, 11 Jan 2021 at 20:22, Luther Monson ***@***.***> wrote: find time to add the feature :D PRs welcome~ — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#24 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAAOLZ55NORZI7TLYW4ORJLSZNMYLANCNFSM4VMGYQEQ> .

Answer 13 · 2021-01-13T14:45:42.000Z

@luthermonson any update or technical direction? You have willing contributors with the time to make the change, who don't know what to do. I'd really like to be able to write a PR but what would that PR look like?

Answer 14 · 2021-01-13T17:26:58.000Z

@tomjn this is what i want.. open to feedback

all code for doing this should be in the cli, the hostsfile package should just be to parse a hosts file to types. this is logic around what to do with the hostsfile after that is done so this code should be here in this repo, can try doing a first round of this have a line type that uses hostsfile.Line and includes a bool which is we check if we manage the line or not.
easiest thing is probably a string to match in comment per line like MAMP does, for example as long as it contains goodhosts in the comment we assume it was meant for our cli, just need a something simple like strings.Contains("goodhosts", comment). e.g. we'd manage all of these lines

127.0.0.1 myhost anotherhost #goodhosts
192.168.0.2 dev-server1 #my comment here goodhosts
192.168.0.3 dev-server2 #goodhosts my comment here

make sure when we add an entry with the add subcommand we need to make sure the comment gets put in place as well
might find it annoying if the goodhosts managed lines are all over the file, might want clean to group them together
dont forget the tests!

Answer 15 · 2021-01-15T20:39:39.000Z

Maybe we can just revert the clean imperative until there is a way to turn it off?

Answer 16 · 2021-01-16T01:06:34.000Z

@theMikeD that doesn't make sense in the context of this repo, for Goodhosts CLI, it would be easier to not use --clean than it would be to remove the feature.

I think there's been some misunderstanding as to what goodhosts is on your part:

goodhosts cli, a golang command line program for adding and removing things from the hosts file
vagrant-goodhosts, a vagrant plugin that uses goodhosts to add hosts as requested by a vagrant project
VVV, a vagrant project that uses vagrant goodhosts in place of vagrant hostsupdater

This is the goodhosts cli repo, so reverting the --clean parameter means removing that feature. Unless you meant make vagrant-goodhosts not specify --clean? Because goodhosts only cleans when the --clean parameter is passed

Answer 17 · 2021-01-16T03:26:26.000Z

I'm becoming a pro at posting bugs to the wrong repo. Please move this issue elsewhere if you deem it appropriate.

Unless you meant make vagrant-goodhosts not specify --clean?

Yes, this. As I understand it, doing so isn't something I can control with a config file.

Answer 18 · 2021-01-16T19:55:18.000Z

You posted in the right repo, but that particular request was for a different piece of software. IIRC @Mte90 has already fixed and merged a PR that makes it configurable and off by default

Answer 19 · 2021-01-16T20:02:12.000Z

As for this feature, I think these semantics make sense if the CLI is used in conjunction with a --namespace="" parameter.

When adding a host:

if the host already exists
- if it exists on a line without the namespace comment on the end
  - error message + bad error code
- if it exists on a line with the namespace comment
  - remove from file and add on a new line if the IP is different with namespace comment
  - do nothing if the IP is the same
if it does not exist
- add on a new line with namespace comment

When removing a host:

if it exists on a line without the namespace comment on the end
- error message + bad error code
if it exists on a line with the namespace comment
- remove from file

Additionally, the namespace parameter would allow rival namespaces, as well as the ability for us to do things like:

goodhosts remove cnmd.test --namespace="MAMP PRO - Do NOT remove this entry!"

Answer 20 · 2021-01-16T20:06:09.000Z

all code for doing this should be in the cli, the hostsfile package should just be to parse a hosts file to types. this is logic around what to do with the hostsfile after that is done so this code should be here in this repo, can try doing a first round of this have a line type that uses hostsfile.Line and includes a bool which is we check if we manage the line or not.

This seems sensible

easiest thing is probably a string to match in comment per line like MAMP does, for example as long as it contains goodhosts in the comment we assume it was meant for our cli, just need a something simple like strings.Contains("goodhosts", comment). e.g. we'd manage all of these lines

I think we should allow the namespace to be configurable from the CLI parameter for maximum flexibility, then search for # namespace \n or equivalent

Answer 21 · 2021-02-22T13:30:10.000Z

any updates for this @luthermonson?

Answer 22 · 2021-02-22T18:20:25.000Z

oh thanks for the ping. this fell off my radar. adding it to my task list and ill try and get to it this week

Answer 23 · 2021-03-22T20:19:41.000Z

@theMikeD latest goodhosts vagrant plugin removed the clean operation a few months ago

Answer 24 · 2021-04-02T15:34:37.000Z

@luthermonson just a ping again :-D

Answer 25 · 2021-05-11T17:55:41.000Z

and it is time for another ping @luthermonson :-D

Answer 26 · 2021-06-03T08:28:38.000Z

missed this ping... sorry. im bad at getting this feature done.

Answer 27 · 2021-06-28T17:06:57.000Z

it's me again :-D
I don't know Go otherwise I will try to implement it.

Answer 28 · 2023-10-01T15:14:13.000Z

is this still an issue with the new release? I saw test cases with MAMP examples were added to the hostsfile repo prior to 1.1.1 release

Answer 29 · 2023-10-02T03:46:21.000Z

it's not fixed yet, i grabbed the mamp hosts file to try and test it eventually as i started keeping default hosts files to write more tests against