re: mysterious dot after hostname

There was a PR about this.  This occurs because you
have explicitly set the domain to be a null string, 
and once the domain is set, it cannot be "unset" to
it's original, unset state (this is a feature of setconf).
  
If you don't set the domain, or the domains are the same
(recommended) then you will not see the dot.

I think this was fixed at some point to get rid of the
dot, when you explicitly set the domain to be a null
string.

Most of us just set the domain (the same) on all our
machines.

--
aboyd