you know. On the project I'm working on, I thought about using the hosts file as a method of configuring the behaviour of a server. "mycomp-eventserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"

In the end, we just created configuration files for it, as more often then not, there are other factors that need to be included.

That said, maybe these requirements are being set by applications that are not yours to mess around with.

In which case, may god have mercy on your soul.