In my /etc/hosts/ file on Linux/OSX, how do I do a wildcard subdomain?

Question

I need to test sub-domains on my localhost. How can I effectively have this result of adding *.localhost.com to my /etc/hosts/ file?

If it's not possible, how do I work around this problem? I need to test wildcard sub-domains on my localserver. It is a Django devserver, can the Django dev server handle the sub-domains? Can some other piece of software/routing give me the end result I want?

Answer 1

Install dnsmasq (I do this on all my Linux desktops as a DNS cache anyways). In dnsmasq.conf add the line:

address=/localhost.com/127.0.0.1

Answer 2

It is not possible to specify wildcards in the /etc/hosts file. Either specify the required hostnames explicitly or alternatively set up a local name server with the appropriate rules.

Answer 3

I have written a dns proxy in Python. It will read wildcard entries in /etc/hosts. See here: https://github.com/hubdotcom/marlon-tools/blob/master/tools/dnsproxy/dnsproxy.py

Answer 4

You need to set up a DNS server and have each client use it for resolution. The server itself can be something as "light" as dnsmasq or as heavy as BIND.

Answer 5

Simple Workflow (no need to install anything)

I personally like to create a PAC file for that and make my browser just use it.

Step 1: create a file e.g.: *.proxy.pac* somewhere (I use my $home folder)

Step 2: paste this code (example is with port 8000):

function FindProxyForURL(url, host) {
  if (shExpMatch(host, "*localhost")) {
    return "PROXY localhost:8000";
  }
  return "DIRECT";
}

Step 3: Make your Browser use this PAC file.

Youtube Video for PAC & Firefox

Step 4: Now you can test your app by accessing: http://mysubdomain.localhost/

Step 5: Enjoy :)

Answer 6

I've tidied up an old project of mine:

https://github.com/airtonix/avahi-aliases

requirements:

• linux where avahi and python-avahi are installable
• you're ok with .local domains (avahi doesn't support any other kind)

Advantages over using dnsmasq or the python dns proxy:

• other avahi/bonjour users on your local network can resolve the aliases you create and announce to the network ( providing you're allowing access to port 5353 )

Answer 7

You cannot use a wildcard in /etc/hosts.

Have a look here for a good walkthrough on how to accomplish on OS X using BIND, the built-in but inactive DNS server, and Apache.

Answer 8

This DNS based solution worked perfectly in my case, without need to install anything : https://gist.github.com/fedir/04e60d679d5657d1f9f9aa10b3168282 (Mac OSX 10.9)

Answer 9

Copying from this blog here is how to do it on mac:

https://hedichaibi.com/how-to-setup-wildcard-dev-domains-with-dnsmasq-on-a-mac/

~ brew install dnsmasq

~ vim /usr/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf

# This file will be added to the configuration
conf-file=/Users/your_user_name/.dnsmasq/dnsmasq.conf

~ vim /Users/your_user_name/.dnsmasq/dnsmasq.conf

# example.localhost will be resolved as 127.0.0.1, including subdomains
address=/example.localhost/127.0.0.1
listen-address=127.0.0.1

~ sudo brew services stop dnsmasq

~ sudo brew services start dnsmasq

We need to tell macOS to use 127.0.0.1 as the first DNS resolver.

Answer 10

If you want to use dnsmasq with NetworkManager you can (or even must?) start dnsmasq from NetworkManager by adding

dns=dnsmasq

to /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf. Then the dnsmasq config goes to /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.conf or /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d/ resp.

Answer 11

Short answer:

Your /etc/hosts/ file won't let you use wildcards or port numbers. You will need to create one entry for each of your subdomain

Answer 12

The short answer is you don't. The longer answer is you need to be clearer on what you desire to actually achieve, because there is perhaps either a better way, and a different way to achieve it.

For web-hosting (I've never seen it used otherwise) is done in DNS in combination with a virtual hosting aware web server. For more information on wildcard DNS records (Wikipedia), and an article Wildcard hosting with Apache and Bind for Linux using bind and Apache.

At worst, you could use a local DNS server I suppose.

Answer 13

dnsmasq worked for me, except I had to make some additional steps.

Here is the full procedure:

1. Prepend /etc/resolv.conf with the following line

    nameserver 127.0.0.1
   

2. Add the following lines to /etc/dnsmasq.conf

    listen-address=127.0.0.1
    address=/localhost.localdomain/127.0.0.1
    address=/localhost/127.0.0.1
   

3. Restart dnsmasq (do not simply tell dnsmasq to reload the config files)

Answer 14

A common task for this subject is to map directories to subdomains. A very straightforward way for that is to append the directory-based entries automatically to the hosts file:

#!/usr/bin/python

import os

hostsFile = open("/etc/hosts", "a+");

lines = hostsFile.readlines()

for fileName in os.listdir('/opt/subdomainDirs'):

    entryExists = False
    for line in lines:
        if fileName in line:
            entryExists = True  

    if not entryExists:
        hostsFile.write("127.0.0.1 " + fileName + ".localhost\n");

Answer 15

Thank you tschundeee for what I consider to be the ultimate answer to this issue, wish I could just comment but here is the total configuration for those trying to accomplish the original goal (wildcards all pointing to same codebase -- install nothing, dev environment ie, XAMPP)

hosts file (add an entry)

file: /etc/hosts (non-windows)

127.0.0.1   example.local

httpd.conf configuration (enable vhosts)

file: /XAMPP/etc/httpd.conf

# Virtual hosts
Include etc/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

httpd-vhosts.conf configuration

file: XAMPP/etc/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin admin@example.local
    DocumentRoot "/path_to_XAMPP/htdocs"
    ServerName example.local
    ServerAlias *.example.local
#    SetEnv APP_ENVIRONMENT development
#    ErrorLog "logs/example.local-error_log"
#    CustomLog "logs/example.local-access_log" common
</VirtualHost>

restart apache

create pac file:

save as whatever.pac wherever you want to and then load the file in the browser's network>proxy>auto_configuration settings (reload if you alter this)

function FindProxyForURL(url, host) {
  if (shExpMatch(host, "*example.local")) {
    return "PROXY example.local";
  }
  return "DIRECT";
}