<s>
In	O
computer	O
systems	O
,	O
name	B-Library
resolution	I-Library
refers	O
to	O
the	O
retrieval	O
of	O
the	O
underlying	O
numeric	O
values	O
corresponding	O
to	O
computer	O
hostnames	B-Protocol
,	O
account	O
user	B-Application
names	O
,	O
group	B-Application
names	O
,	O
and	O
other	O
named	O
entities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
that	O
context	O
,	O
name	B-Library
resolution	I-Library
refers	O
to	O
the	O
retrieval	O
of	O
numeric	O
values	O
given	O
the	O
associated	O
names	O
,	O
while	O
Reverse	O
name	B-Library
resolution	I-Library
refers	O
to	O
the	O
opposite	O
process	O
of	O
finding	O
the	O
name(s )	O
associated	O
with	O
specified	O
numeric	O
values	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
computer	B-Architecture
networking	I-Architecture
,	O
it	O
refers	O
to	O
processes	O
used	O
to	O
obtain	O
the	O
assigned	O
IP	B-Protocol
addresses	I-Protocol
needed	O
to	O
communicate	O
with	O
devices	O
whose	O
host	B-Protocol
or	O
domain	O
names	O
are	O
known	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Examples	O
include	O
the	O
Domain	B-Protocol
Name	I-Protocol
System	I-Protocol
(	O
DNS	B-Protocol
)	O
,	O
Network	B-Operating_System
Information	I-Operating_System
Service	I-Operating_System
and	O
Multicast	B-Protocol
DNS	I-Protocol
(	O
mDNS	B-Protocol
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IP	B-Protocol
addresses	I-Protocol
for	O
devices	O
on	O
the	O
local	O
segment	O
can	O
in	O
turn	O
be	O
resolved	O
to	O
MAC	O
addresses	O
by	O
invoking	O
the	O
Address	O
Resolution	O
Protocol	O
(	O
ARP	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unix	O
operating	O
systems	O
associate	O
both	O
an	O
alphanumeric	O
name	O
and	O
a	O
user	B-Application
or	O
group	B-Application
ID	I-Application
with	O
each	O
user	B-Application
account	O
or	O
defined	O
group	B-Application
of	O
user	B-Application
names	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GNU	B-Language
C	I-Language
Library	I-Language
provides	O
various	O
operating	O
system	O
facilities	O
that	O
shell	O
commands	O
and	O
other	O
applications	O
can	O
call	O
to	O
resolve	O
such	O
names	O
to	O
the	O
corresponding	O
addresses	O
or	O
IDs	O
,	O
and	O
vice	O
versa	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
Linux	O
distributions	O
use	O
an	O
nsswitch.conf	B-Protocol
file	O
to	O
specify	O
the	O
order	O
in	O
which	O
multiple	O
resolution	O
services	O
are	O
used	O
to	O
effect	O
such	O
lookups	O
.	O
</s>
