GETHOSTID(2)        Linux Programmer's Manual        GETHOSTID(2)

NAME
       gethostid, sethostid - get or set the unique identifier of
       the current host

SYNOPSIS
       #include <unistd.h>

       long int gethostid(void);
       int sethostid(long int hostid);

DESCRIPTION
       Get or set a unique  32-bit  identifier  for  the  current
       machine.   The  32-bit identifier is intended to be unique
       among all UNIX systems in existence. This normally  resem-
       bles  the  Internet  address  for  the  local  machine, as
       returned by gethostbyname(3), and thus usually never needs
       to be set.

       The sethostid call is restricted to the superuser.

       The hostid argument is stored in the file /etc/hostid.

RETURN VALUES
       gethostid  returns  the  32-bit identifier for the current
       host as set by sethostid(2).

CONFORMING TO
       4.2BSD.  These functions were dropped in 4.4BSD.   POSIX.1
       does  not  define these functions, but ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990
       mentions them in B.4.4.1.  SVr4 includes gethostid but not
       sethostid.

FILES
       /etc/hostid

SEE ALSO
       hostid(1), gethostbyname(3)

Linux 0.99.13            29 November 1993                       1