socket.gethostbyname returns `wrong` result?

[Frank Miles]

Hi everyone...

I'm trying to use the IP address as a way of detecting the current state
of my laptop.  [Using laptop-net, it senses what network it's connected
to, and configures various parameters including IP address.  This seems
to work properly, as reflected in the `ifconfig` output.]

Unfortunately while the simple script:

	import socket
	print socket.gethostbyname(socket.gethostname())

works on my desktop machines and server, on the laptop it gives:
	127.0.0.1
which, of course, doesn't provide any idea as to the state of the network.

Is there any way to coerce the external IP#?  Or another way of accessing
this number?

TIA for any tips or pointers to relevant docs!

	-frank
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