Why does hostname gets prefixed with lima-<hostname> and why are .local lookups not working?

[JackieTreeh0rn]

These are two questions in one but somewhat related.,

1.- The instance names always get prefixed with lima-
limactl list shows the instance name I picked verbatim, and I would like the instance to have that very name. The instance however, say I do a lookup from the instance itself against its IP, always returns the lima- . So does hostname

nslookup 10.0.1.7
7.1.0.10.in-addr.arpa	name = lima-GALAXY-DOCK.
7.1.0.10.in-addr.arpa	name = lima-GALAXY-DOCK.local.

2.- Regarding .local resolution, I understand it is using a local agent to pull DNS via the host resolver, however, it isn't working. nslookups or dig against other systems in my network (non lima guests as well as physical, etc return a failure in name resolution. Do I need to install AVAHI on the LiMa instance for this to work fully?

I am running on bridge mode, getting an IP from my DHCP just fine, and so I am basically trying to make it so I don't have to use /etc/hosts anywhere in my network and I just access my lima instances via HOSTNAME.LOCAL and viceversa. I come from Multipass and I always installed AVAHI on all instances there but it seemed like LiMa does a much better job at controlling how DNS and networking works which is great - Multipass is a bit of a wild mess for stuff like this.

UPDATE on (2): I just installed AVAHI on one instance and .local resolution seems to be working. However, I am still curious as to that is even necessary with LiMa out of the box...?

[a-h]

There's some related information about local resolution at #2018

[AkihiroSuda]

1.- The instance names always get prefixed with lima-
limactl list shows the instance name I picked verbatim, and I would like the instance to have that very name. The instance however, say I do a lookup from the instance itself against its IP, always returns the lima- . So does hostname

Because I wanted to name the default instance "default" but I didn't want a host named "default" to exist.
Also, hostnames like "ubuntu", "debian", etc. are likely to conflict with existing hosts.

If somebody submits a PR to allow specifying a custom hostname, I think we can happily accept it.

UPDATE on (2): I just installed AVAHI on one instance and .local resolution seems to be working. However, I am still curious as to that is even necessary with LiMa out of the box...?

I guess this should just corresponds to the distro (Ubuntu)'s choice?

[JackieTreeh0rn]

makes sense... I just hostname it so it isnt worth the effort, thanks for the follow up....

[aborrero]

running hostname inside the VM after creation is not enough, given things like DNS entries and /etc/hosts will remain unchanged.

To properly remove the lima prefix, I think we need a way to set the VM name at creation time.