Auto‑Update GitHub Hosts on macOS with a Custom Bash Script

Background

To avoid carrying a laptop between office and home, the author syncs a ThinkPad T460s and a MacBook Pro via GitHub. Frequent GitHub login failures led to discovering a site (https://github-hosts.tinsfox.com/) that provides the latest GitHub IP addresses.

Generating a Custom Script

Because the site’s built‑in tool didn’t meet personal needs, the author used the DeepSeek AI model with the prompt:

I want a macOS script that reads the content from "https://github-hosts.tinsfox.com/hosts" and updates the local /etc/hosts file.

DeepSeek returned a complete Bash script, which is reproduced below.

#!/bin/bash
# GitHub Hosts 更新脚本
# 下载地址: https://github-hosts.tinsfox.com/hosts
# 备份并更新 /etc/hosts 中的 GitHub 相关记录

# 配置参数
HOSTS_URL="https://github-hosts.tinsfox.com/hosts"
TEMP_FILE="/tmp/github_hosts_temp"
BACKUP_DIR="$HOME/hosts_backups"

# 确保备份目录存在
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# 创建时间戳备份
BACKUP_FILE="$BACKUP_DIR/hosts_$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).bak"
echo "备份当前 hosts 文件: $BACKUP_FILE"
sudo cp /etc/hosts "$BACKUP_FILE"

# 下载最新 hosts 内容
echo "下载 GitHub hosts 更新..."
curl -fsSL "$HOSTS_URL" -o "$TEMP_FILE"
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "错误: 无法下载 hosts 文件"
  exit 1
fi

# 处理 hosts 文件
echo "更新 hosts 文件..."
sudo bash -c "
    # 删除旧的 GitHub hosts 区块
    sed -i '' '/^# GitHub Hosts Start/,/^# GitHub Hosts End/d' /etc/hosts

    echo '' >> /etc/hosts
    echo '# GitHub Hosts Start - 更新于 $(date)' >> /etc/hosts

    cat '$TEMP_FILE' >> /etc/hosts

    echo '# GitHub Hosts End' >> /etc/hosts
"

# 清理临时文件
rm -f "$TEMP_FILE"

echo "更新完成! 已保留备份: $BACKUP_FILE"
echo "当前 /etc/hosts 最后几行:"
tail -n 8 /etc/hosts

# 刷新MacBook的DNS缓存
sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

Saving and Preparing the Script

Save the script as update-github-hosts.sh. Grant execution permission: chmod +x update-github-hosts.sh Before running, ensure the /etc/hosts file is writable (use sudo as shown).

Running the Script

Execute with an absolute path to avoid "command not found" errors:

sudo /full/path/update-github-hosts.sh

Making the Command Convenient

Copy the script to a directory in $PATH (e.g., /usr/local/bin) and rename it for short invocation:

sudo cp /full/path/update-github-hosts.sh /usr/local/bin/upd-github
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/upd-github

Now the update can be run simply with:

sudo upd-github

Conclusion

The entire process—from identifying the need for fresh GitHub IPs, prompting an AI model, obtaining a ready‑to‑run Bash script, to streamlining execution—took under ten minutes, demonstrating how AI can accelerate system‑administration tasks while still allowing manual verification and customization.