README.md

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

Go to release page and download the binary you need.

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

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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