[AndyMcConachie]

This is a general problem with DNS search lists. The 'search' directive in /etc/resolv.conf attempts to solve this, but is itself problematic.

This can also be set via DHCP.

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3397

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6106#page-7

[Animats]

It's a feature that should be off by default. It's only useful in corporate intranets, where the corporate DHCP and DNS servers could provide a search list for finding local servers.