npm - webpack-dev-server can't find localhost

Question

I'm trying to get started with React using webpack, but keep running into an error when I try to set up webpack-dev-server. I ran

npm install webpack-dev-server

followed by

webpack-dev-server

and the command line returns the following:

events.js:154
      throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
      ^

Error: getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND localhost
    at errnoException (dns.js:26:10)
    at GetAddrInfoReqWrap.onlookup [as oncomplete] (dns.js:77:26)

Any clues on what is happening here?

I don't really know how webpack works to try and search for the root of the problem, but I've also been developing a website using PHP at port 80 with MAMP, I don't know if this is maybe part of the issue?

Answer 1

Solved, turned out my hosts file (found under /etc/hosts on a mac) had one line missing and so webpack couldn't find localhost. I restored it to its default following these instructions and it now works!