hostctl

hostctl

Manage your /etc/hosts like a pro!

This tool gives you more control over the use of your hosts file. You can have multiple profiles and enable/disable as you need.

Why?

It is a tedious task to handle the hosts file by editing manually. With this tool you can automate some aspects to do it cleaner and quick.

Installation

Pre-built binary

Go to release page and download the binary you need.

Arch Linux

hostctl has an AUR package: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/hostctl/. You can install it using your AUR helper of choice.

Features

• Manage groups of host names by profile.
• Enable/disable complete profiles.
• add/remove groups of host names.
• add profiles directly from a .etchosts file that you can add to your vcs.

Sample Usage

Linux/Mac/Windows and permissions

WARNING: this should work on any system, but currently this is only being tested on Linux. If you try it on a different system please let me know here.

The tool recognize your system and use the right hosts file, it will use /etc/hosts on Linux/Mac and C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts on Windows.

SUDO: You will need permissions for any action that modify hosts file, add sudo to the commands below when needed.

Usage

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 |_____| |     | |______    |    |          |    |     
 |     | |_____| ______|    |    |_____     |    |_____

hostctl is a CLI tool to manage your hosts file with ease. 
You can have multiple profiles, enable/disable exactly what
you need each time with a simple interface.

Usage:
  hostctl [command]

Available Commands:
  add         Add content to a profile in your hosts file.
  backup      Creates a backup copy of your hosts file
  disable     Disable a profile from your hosts file.
  enable      Enable a profile on your hosts file.
  help        Help about any command
  list        Shows a detailed list of profiles on your hosts file.
  remove      Remove a profile from your hosts file.
  restore     Restore hosts file content from a backup file.
  set         Set content to a profile in your hosts file.

Flags:
  -h, --help               help for hostctl
      --host-file string   Hosts file path (default "/etc/hosts")
  -p, --profile string     Choose a profile

Use "hostctl [command] --help" for more information about a command.

List profiles

$> hostctl list

// Output:
+---------+--------+----------------+----------------------------+
| PROFILE | STATUS |       IP       |           DOMAIN           |
+---------+--------+----------------+----------------------------+
| default | on     | 127.0.0.1      | localhost                  |
| default | on     | 127.0.1.1      | some-existing.local        |
| default | on     | ::1            | ip6-localhost              |
+---------+--------+----------------+----------------------------+
| lite    | on     | 192.168.1.51   | jupyter.toolkit-lite.local |
+---------+--------+----------------+----------------------------+
| toolkit | on     | 192.168.99.119 | app.toolkit.local          |
| toolkit | on     | 192.168.99.119 | gitea.toolkit.local        |
| toolkit | on     | 192.168.99.119 | jupyter.toolkit.local      |
+---------+--------+----------------+----------------------------+

Add new profile

You can store routing as a separate file and add it to the global hosts file when you need.

Say you have this routing file on any of your projects:

# File stored in /path/to/some/project/.etchosts
127.0.0.1 web.my-awesome-project.local 
127.0.0.1 api.my-awesome-project.local 

You can add that content as a profile with this command:

$>hostctl set -p awesome --from /path/to/some/project/.etchosts

// Output:
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+
| PROFILE | STATUS |       IP       |            DOMAIN            |
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+
| default | on     | 127.0.0.1      | localhost                    |
| default | on     | 127.0.1.1      | some-existing.local          |
| default | on     | ::1            | ip6-localhost                |
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+
| another | on     | 192.168.1.51   | jupyter.toolkit-lite.local   |
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+
| awesome | on     | 127.0.0.1      | web.my-awesome-project.local |
| awesome | on     | 127.0.0.1      | api.my-awesome-project.local |
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+

Enable/Disable profile

You can enable/disable any profile, the routing will react to it state. Disabling a profile does not remove the content from the hosts file, this way you can re-enable it later on.

$> hostctl disable -p awesome

// Output:
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+
| PROFILE | STATUS |       IP       |            DOMAIN            |
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+
...
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+
| awesome | off    | 127.0.0.1      | web.my-awesome-project.local |
| awesome | off    | 127.0.0.1      | api.my-awesome-project.local |
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+

$> hostctl enable -p awesome

// Output:
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+
| PROFILE | STATUS |       IP       |            DOMAIN            |
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+
...
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+
| awesome | on     | 127.0.0.1      | web.my-awesome-project.local |
| awesome | on     | 127.0.0.1      | api.my-awesome-project.local |
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+

Remove a profile

If you want to completely remove a profile from the hosts file you can run:

$> hostctl remove -p awesome

// Output:
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+
| PROFILE | STATUS |       IP       |            DOMAIN            |
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+
| default | on     | 127.0.0.1      | localhost                    |
| default | on     | 127.0.1.1      | some-existing.local          |
| default | on     | ::1            | ip6-localhost                |
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+
| another | off    | 192.168.1.51   | jupyter.toolkit-lite.local   |
+---------+--------+----------------+------------------------------+

Backup hosts file

You can save a copy of your hosts file with this command:

hostctl backup --path /tmp/

It would create a file /tmp/hosts.20200314 with the content of your hosts file.

Restore a hosts file

You can restore a previous backup of your hosts file with this command:

hostctl restore --from /tmp/hosts.20200314

It would overwrite your hosts file with the content of your backup.

TODO

Features that I'd like to add:

• hostctl from-k8s -n namespace
• hostctl from-minikube -n namespace
• hostctl set ip IP [-p profile]
• hostctl set domains dom1,dom2,etc [-p profile]
• hostctl add domains dom1,dom2 [-p profile]
• hostctl rm domains dom1,dom2 [-p profile]

References

• Dependencies:

  • spf13/cobra
  • guumaster/tablewriter

• Inspiration:

  • txn2/txeh: CLI for /etc/hosts management

LICENSE

MIT license

Author(s)

• guumaster