wget: unable to resolve host address `http'

May 2024 · 2 minute read

I am getting this strange thing on my Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit machine when I do a wget

$ wget google.com --2014-07-18 14:44:32-- http://google.com/ Resolving http (http)... failed: Name or service not known. wget: unable to resolve host address `http'

I have encountered this problem earlier when I got it for any web pages (and not http), which required me to add my nameserver to /etc/resolv.conf.

However, here that doesn't seem to be the problem, instead it is recognizing http as something different. Any advise?

3

8 Answers

The DNS server seems out of order. You can use another DNS server such as 8.8.8.8. Put nameserver 8.8.8.8 to the first line of /etc/resolv.conf.

2

remove the http or https from wget https:github.com/facebook/facebook-php-sdk/archive/master.zip . this worked fine for me.

2

I have this issue too. I suspect there is an issue with DigitalOcean’s nameservers, so this will likely affect a lot of other people too. Here’s what I’ve done to temporarily get around it - but someone else might be able to advise on a better long-term fix:

  • Make sure your DNS Resolver config file is writable:

    sudo chmod o+r /etc/resolv.conf

  • Temporarily change your DNS to use Google’s nameservers instead of DigitalOcean’s:

    sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf

    • Change the IP address in the file to: 8.8.8.8

    Press CTRL + X to save the file.

    This is only a temporary fix as this file is automatically written/updated by the server, however, I’ve not yet worked out what writes to it so that I can update it permanently.

    1

    I figured out what went wrong. In the proxy configuration of my box, an extra http:// got prefixed to "proxy server with http".

    Example..

    http://http://proxy.mycollege.com

    and that has created problems. Corrected that, and it works perfectly.

    Thanks @WhiteCoffee and @ChrisBint for your suggestions!

    4

    If using Vagrant try reloading your box. This solved my issue.

    It might happen because of the overriding of resolv.conf, This answer helped me, use below every time when you set up a new WSL. sudo chattr +i /etc/resolv.conf - will make the file immutable and won't be overwritten next time you start wsl.

    sudo bash -c 'echo -e "[network] generateResolvConf = false" > /etc/wsl.conf rm /etc/resolv.conf echo -e "options timeout:1 attempts:1 rotate nameserver 1.1.1.1 nameserver 1.0.0.1" > /etc/resolv.conf chattr -f +i /etc/resolv.conf'

    I had the same issue, I just removed the http:// from the link and it worked:

    !wget www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~vgg/data/pets/data/images.tar.gz

    I solved this sort of problem (I was trying to install julia on VSL 2 Ubuntu on Windows) by disconnecting from the VPN of my company

    ncG1vNJzZmirpJawrLvVnqmfpJ%2Bse6S7zGiorp2jqbawutJoaW1wYmaCc32OsJ6erF2qu6Kuy55kraddp7K0u8uvnGagn6jBbq3Dnameq6NitbXAzw%3D%3D