DnsHack

DnsHack hijacks some of your DNS resolutions so that your machine does not have to rely on external network.

Why?

Services like nip.io or xip.io can be sometimes blocked by your DNS servers, or you may find yourself without connectivity.

Other solutions

You can use dnsmasq or any other of the bazillion possible tools.

Does it work everywhere?

Possibly, but the instructions are only for macOS.

Future?

No idea, solved my problem today.

How to?

Forward the domain names to the local server

$ sudo cat <<EOF > /etc/resolver/xip.io
port 5300
nameserver 127.0.0.1
EOF

$ sudo cp /etc/resolver/xip.io /etc/resolver/nip.io
$ sudo cp /etc/resolver/xip.io /etc/resolver/test

build the server

$ make

and start the server automatically (replace the quoted [items] with your values)

$ sudo cat <<EOF > /Library/LaunchDaemons/dns.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>dnshack</string>
        <key>Program</key>
        <string>[path to the binary]</string>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>
        <true/>
        <key>KeepAlive</key>
        <true/>
        <key>UserName</key>
        <string>[username]</string>
        <key>GroupName</key>
        <string>staff</string>
        <key>InitGroups</key>
        <true/>
    </dict>
</plist>
EOF

$ sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/dns.plist

License

dnshack is released under the terms of the MIT License.