[erlang-questions] erl: "Can't set long node name!"

[John Chandler]

I was following an example and found that my configuration lacks the  
ability to "set long node name."  I checked the crash dump, and it  
wasn't informative to me.  I would attach it, but it's 180K, so I'll  
only do that if asked to.

So, any idea what I should change in my configuration?

-jmc
====
  $ erl -name foo
{error_logger,{{2008,6,18},{21,43,13}},"Can't set long node name! 
\nPlease check your configuration\n",[]}
{error_logger,{{2008,6,18},{21,43,13}},crash_report,[[{pid,<0.20.0>}, 
{registered_name,net_kernel},{error_info,{error,badarg}}, 
{initial_call,{gen,init_it,[gen_server,<0.17.0>,<0.17.0>, 
{local,net_kernel},net_kernel,{foo,longnames,15000},[]]}},{ancestors, 
[net_sup,kernel_sup,<0.8.0>]},{messages,[]},{links,[<0.17.0>]}, 
{dictionary,[{longnames,true}]},{trap_exit,true},{status,running}, 
{heap_size,233},{stack_size,21},{reductions,363}],[]]}
{error_logger,{{2008,6,18},{21,43,13}},supervisor_report,[{supervisor, 
{local,net_sup}},{errorContext,start_error},{reason, 
{'EXIT',nodistribution}},{offender,[{pid,undefined},{name,net_kernel}, 
{mfa,{net_kernel,start_link,[[foo,longnames]]}}, 
{restart_type,permanent},{shutdown,2000},{child_type,worker}]}]}
{error_logger,{{2008,6,18},{21,43,13}},supervisor_report,[{supervisor, 
{local,kernel_sup}},{errorContext,start_error},{reason,shutdown}, 
{offender,[{pid,undefined},{name,net_sup},{mfa, 
{erl_distribution,start_link,[]}},{restart_type,permanent}, 
{shutdown,infinity},{child_type,supervisor}]}]}
{error_logger,{{2008,6,18},{21,43,13}},crash_report,[[{pid,<0.7.0>}, 
{registered_name,[]},{error_info,{shutdown,{kernel,start,[normal, 
[]]}}},{initial_call,{application_master,init,[<0.5.0>,<0.6.0>, 
{appl_data,kernel, 
[application_controller,erl_reply,auth,boot_server,code_server,disk_log_ 
server,disk_log_sup,erl_prim_loader,error_logger,file_server_2,fixtable_ 
server,global_group,global_name_server,heart,init,kernel_config,kernel_s 
up,net_kernel,net_sup,rex,user,os_server,ddll_server,erl_epmd,inet_db,pg 
2],undefined,{kernel,[]}, 
[application,application_controller,application_master,application_start 
er,auth,code,code_aux,packages,code_server,dist_util,erl_boot_server,erl 
_distribution,erl_prim_loader,erl_reply,erlang,error_handler,error_logge 
r,file,file_server,file_io_server,prim_file,global,global_group,global_s 
earch,group,heart,hipe_unified_loader,inet6_tcp,inet6_tcp_dist,inet6_udp 
,inet_config,inet_hosts,inet_gethost_native,inet_tcp_dist,init,kernel,ke 
rnel_config,net,net_adm,net_kernel,os,ram_file,rpc,user,user_drv,user_su 
p,disk_log,disk_log_1,disk_log_server,disk_log_sup,dist_ac,erl_ddll,erl_ 
epmd,erts_debug,gen_tcp,gen_udp,gen_sctp,prim_inet,inet,inet_db,inet_dns 
,inet_parse,inet_res,inet_tcp,inet_udp,inet_sctp,pg2,seq_trace,wrap_log_ 
reader,zlib,otp_ring0],[],infinity,infinity},normal]}},{ancestors, 
[<0.6.0>]},{messages,[{'EXIT',<0.8.0>,normal}]},{links, 
[<0.6.0>,<0.5.0>]},{dictionary,[]},{trap_exit,true},{status,running}, 
{heap_size,987},{stack_size,21},{reductions,2063}],[]]}
{error_logger,{{2008,6,18},{21,43,13}},std_info,[{application,kernel}, 
{exited,{shutdown,{kernel,start,[normal,[]]}}},{type,permanent}]}
{"Kernel pid  
terminated",application_controller,"{application_start_failure,kernel, 
{shutdown,{kernel,start,[normal,[]]}}}"}

Crash dump was written to: erl_crash.dump
Kernel pid terminated (application_controller)  
({application_start_failure,kernel,{shutdown,{kernel,start,[normal, 
[]]}}})