#Amalgamated hosts file
This repository consolidates several reputable hosts
files, and merges them into a single amalgamated hosts file
with duplicates removed.
Expectation: This amalgamated hosts file should serve all devices, regardless of OS.
- Last updated: February 27 2016.
- Contains: 27,149 unique entries.
You can download the resultant amalgamated hosts file or clone this repo and generate your own using the Python script provided.
Sources of host data amalgamated here
Updated hosts
files from the following locations are amalgamated:
- The Adaway hosts file, updated regularly.
- MVPs.org Hosts file at http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm, updated monthly, or thereabouts.
- Dan Pollock at http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ updated regularly.
- Malware Domain List at http://www.malwaredomainlist.com/, updated regularly.
- Peter Lowe at http://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/, updated regularly.
- My own small list in raw form here.
In addition, the hosts amalgamater is extensible. You manage extensions by curating the extensions/
folder tree.
See the porn
extension which is included, for example.
Generate your own amalgamated hosts file
The updateHostsFile.py
script, which is python 2.7 and Python 3-compatible, will generate an amalgamated hosts file
based on the sources in the local data/
subfolder. The script will prompt you Whether it should fetch updated
versions (from locations defined by the update.info text file in each source's folder), otherwise it will use the
hosts
file that's already there.
Usage
Using Python 3:
python3 updateHostsFile.py [--auto] [--replace] [--ip nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn] [--extensions ext1 ext2 ext3]
Using Python 2.7:
python updateHostsFile.py [--auto] [--replace] [--ip nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn] [--extensions ext1 ext2 ext3]
Command line options:
--auto
, or -a
: run the script without prompting. When --auto
is invoked,
- Host data sources, including extensions, are updated.
- No extensions are included by default. Use the
--extensions
or-e
flag to include any you want. - Your active hosts file is not replaced unless you include the
--replace
flag.
--replace
, or -r
: trigger replacing your active hosts file with the new hosts file. Use along with --auto
to
force replacement.
--ip nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn
, or -i nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn
: the IP address to use as the target. Default is 0.0.0.0
.
--extensions ext1 ext2 ext3
, or -e ext1 ext2 ext3
: the names of subfolders below the extensions
folder containing
additional category-specific hosts files to include in the amalgamation. Example: --extensions porn
or -e porn
.
--help
, or -h
: display help.
How do I control which sources are amalgamated?
Add one or more additional sources, each in a subfolder of the data/
folder, and specify its update url in update.info
file.
Add one or more optional sources, each in a subfolder of the extensions/
folder, and specify the update url in update.info
.
How do I incorporate my own hosts?
If you have custom host records, place them in file myhosts
. The contents of this file are prepended to the
amalgamated hosts file during the update process.
What is a hosts file?
A hosts file, named hosts
(with no file extension), is a plain-text file used by all operating
systems to map hostnames to IP addresses.
In most operating systems, the hosts
file is preferential to DNS
. Therefore if a host name is
resolved by the hosts
file, the request never leaves your computer.
Having a smart hosts
file goes a long way towards blocking malware, adware, and other irritants.
For example, to nullify requests to some doubleclick.net servers, adding these lines to your hosts file will do it:
# block doubleClick's servers
127.0.0.1 ad.ae.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ar.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.at.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.au.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.be.doubleclick.net
# etc...
0.0.0.0
instead of 127.0.0.1
We recommend using Using 0.0.0.0
is faster because you don't have to wait for a timeout. It also does not interfere
with a web server that may be running on the local PC.
0
instead of 0.0.0.0
?
Why not use just We tried that. Using 0
doesn't work universally.
Location of your hosts file
To modify your current hosts
file, look for it in the following places and modify it with a text
editor.
Mac OS X, iOS, Android, Linux: /etc/hosts
folder.
Windows: %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
folder.
Reloading hosts file
Your operating system will cache DNS lookups. You can either reboot or run the following commands to manually flush your DNS cache once the new hosts file is in place.
Mac OS X
Open a Terminal and run:
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache;sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
Windows
Open a Command Prompt:
Windows XP: Start -> Run -> cmd
Windows Vista, 7: Start Button -> type cmd
-> right-click Command Prompt ->
"Run as Administrator"
Windows 8: Start -> Swipe Up -> All Apps -> Windows System -> right-click Command Prompt -> "Run as Administrator"
and run:
ipconfig /flushdns
Linux
Open a Terminal and run with root privileges:
Debian/Ubuntu sudo /etc/rc.d/init.d/nscd restart
Linux with systemd: sudo systemctl restart network.service
Fedora Linux: sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager.service
Arch Linux/Manjaro with Network Manager: sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager.service
Arch Linux/Manjaro with Wicd: sudo systemctl restart wicd.service
Others: Consult this wikipedia article.
Goals of this amalgamated hosts file
The goals of this repo are to:
-
automatically combine high-quality lists of hosts,
-
provide easy extensions,
-
de-dupe the resultant combined list,
-
and keep the resultant file reasonably sized.
A high-quality source is defined here as one that is actively curated. A hosts source should be frequently updated by its maintainers with both additions and removals. The larger the hosts file, the higher the level of curation is expected.
For example, the (huge) hosts file from hosts-file.net is not included here because it is very large (300,000+ entries) and doesn't currently display a corresponding high level of curation activity.
It is expected that this amalgamated hosts file will serve both desktop and mobile devices under a variety of operating systems.