# $EPIC: hostname,v 1.4 2001/06/04 22:53:37 jnelson Exp $
Synopsis:
   hostname <fully qualified hostname>
   irchost <fully qualified hostname>

Description:
   EPIC has many opportunities to create internet connections.  The most 
   obvious circumstances are server connections and dcc connections.  Every 
   internet connection has a specific internet protocol (IP) address (in IPv4, 
   addresses are 32 bit integers; in IPv6, they are larger) for both you and 
   for the person you're talking to.

   By default, EPIC does not specify which IP address should be used for you; 
   it leaves that choice up to the operating system.  This is suitable for most 
   users who have only one IP address.  Some users have more than one IP 
   address available to them, and they do not want to use the system's primary 
   IP address but rather one of the auxilliary IP addresses. (Mostly for
   vanity purposes).  The hostname command lets you specify a specific
   local IP address that EPIC will use for further connections.

   The argument to hostname must be a fully qualified internet 
   hostname that resolves to an IP address that your machine is configured
   to handle.  No error checking is done; if you specify the hostname of
   another host, EPIC will blithely try to use that invalid ip address as 
   the local host and all further connections will FAIL SILENTLY.  This is
   not a bug; EPIC can't be reasonably expected to know whether or not a 
   hostname you give it is valid for your machine -- that's the job of you,
   the user.

   EPIC4 only supports a hostname as the argument to hostname.  It is
   expected that EPIC5 will support dotted-quads (for ipv4) and colon-tuples
   (for ipv6) as arguments to hostname.

   You must of course use the reconnect command after using the 
   hostname command before the new hostname will be seen by other
   users on irc.  The hostname command never affects any connections
   that already exist beforehand.

See also:
   reconnect (1)
