diff --git a/src/add-ons/kernel/file_systems/nfs4/RPCAuth.cpp b/src/add-ons/kernel/file_systems/nfs4/RPCAuth.cpp
index 6c6f1ba5d7..e9ce2aa365 100644
--- a/src/add-ons/kernel/file_systems/nfs4/RPCAuth.cpp
+++ b/src/add-ons/kernel/file_systems/nfs4/RPCAuth.cpp
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ Auth::CreateSys()
 	xdr.AddUInt(time(NULL));
 
 	char hostname[255];
-	//if (gethostname(hostname, 255) < 0)
+	if (gethostname(hostname, 255) < 0)
 		strcpy(hostname, "unknown");
 	xdr.AddString(hostname, 255);
 
diff --git a/src/system/kernel/util/Jamfile b/src/system/kernel/util/Jamfile
index 59ff30c7c6..23577a6981 100644
--- a/src/system/kernel/util/Jamfile
+++ b/src/system/kernel/util/Jamfile
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ UsePrivateHeaders [ FDirName kernel util ] ;
 
 KernelMergeObject kernel_util.o :
 	AVLTreeBase.cpp
+	hostname.cpp
 	kernel_cpp.cpp
 	KernelReferenceable.cpp
 	khash.cpp
diff --git a/src/system/kernel/util/hostname.cpp b/src/system/kernel/util/hostname.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..676f16990e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/system/kernel/util/hostname.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2002-2007, Axel Dörfler, axeld@pinc-software.de. All rights reserved.
+ * Distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
+ */
+
+
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+#include <FindDirectory.h>
+#include <StorageDefs.h>
+
+#include <errno_private.h>
+
+
+static status_t
+get_path(char *path, bool create)
+{
+	status_t status = find_directory(B_COMMON_SETTINGS_DIRECTORY, -1, create,
+		path, B_PATH_NAME_LENGTH);
+	if (status != B_OK)
+		return status;
+
+	strlcat(path, "/network", B_PATH_NAME_LENGTH);
+	if (create)
+		mkdir(path, 0755);
+	strlcat(path, "/hostname", B_PATH_NAME_LENGTH);
+	return B_OK;
+}
+
+
+extern "C" int
+sethostname(const char *hostName, size_t nameSize)
+{
+	char path[B_PATH_NAME_LENGTH];
+	if (get_path(path, false) != B_OK) {
+		__set_errno(B_ERROR);
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	int file = open(path, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT, 0644);
+	if (file < 0)
+		return -1;
+
+	nameSize = min_c(nameSize, MAXHOSTNAMELEN);
+
+	if (write(file, hostName, nameSize) != (ssize_t)nameSize
+		|| write(file, "\n", 1) != 1) {
+		close(file);
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	close(file);
+	return 0;
+}
+
+
+extern "C" int
+gethostname(char *hostName, size_t nameSize)
+{
+	// look up hostname from network settings hostname file
+
+	char path[B_PATH_NAME_LENGTH];
+	if (get_path(path, false) != B_OK) {
+		__set_errno(B_ERROR);
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	int file = open(path, O_RDONLY);
+	if (file < 0)
+		return -1;
+
+	nameSize = min_c(nameSize, MAXHOSTNAMELEN);
+
+	int length = read(file, hostName, nameSize - 1);
+	close(file);
+
+	if (length < 0)
+		return -1;
+
+	hostName[length] = '\0';
+
+	char *end = strpbrk(hostName, "\r\n\t");
+	if (end != NULL)
+		end[0] = '\0';
+
+	return 0;
+}
+