# Question on curl and auth.log (gethostby*.getanswer)

## Elfan

In my auth.log I have several entries that look like this:

```
Mar  7 22:00:34 puffin curl: gethostby*.getanswer: asked for "sheep.arces.net.nyud.net IN A", got type "39"
```

I've looked up some info on curl and found that type 39 means "LDAP search failed" but I don't understand why these messages are being generated or why they appear in auth.log.

mod edit: slightly updated title --bunder  8)

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## BobArctor

I just noticed identical messages in my log as well.

Anyone have any ideas?

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## aidanjt

It's a failed DNS query.  curl is trying to do a DNS lookup of sheep.arces.net.nyud.net, and failing.

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## Elfan

Thank you AidanJT.

Do you know why it appears in auth.log?  Historical reasons?

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## bunder

i hate to necro this, but firefox is doing this to me as well, due to the filterset.g adblock list updater.

 *Quote:*   

> Dec  7 08:56:02 bunder firefox-bin: gethostby*.getanswer: asked for "www.pierceive.com.nyud.net IN A", got type "39"

 

google didn't turn up much...  so why are they in the auth log and not in another log, perhaps ~/.xsessionerrors or /var/log/user.log ?

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