Simple DNS essentially functions the same as a regular hosts file, however it allows for more complicated domain matching (via Regular Expressions) rather than fixed domains.

Simple DNS record entries must be prefixed with #@ and can be placed into any regular file, including your existing hosts file without issue.

#@  \.?example\.com$        192.168.56.100  # Maps all domains belonging to example.com to 192.168.56.100
#@  ^google\.com$           192.168.56.100  # Maps *only* the google.com domain to 192.168.56.100 (maps.google.com would be ignored)

The project is built with .NET Core 1.1 and the solution file must be opened with VS2017 or newer. Simple DNS can be built and run from the command line on both Linux and Windows systems.

To build the project run the following commands from the project root (the same directory as SimpleDns.sln)

SimpleDns$ dotnet restore && dotnet build

To run the project on Windows

dotnet run ^
    --configuration=Release ^
    --project=src\SimpleDns\SimpleDns.csproj ^
    -- ^
    "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts"

Or on Linux

dotnet run \
    --configuration=Release \
    --project=src/SimpleDns/SimpleDns.csproj \
    -- \
    "/etc/hosts"