README

LazSwitchHosts

A lightweight hosts management tool built with Lazarus (Free Pascal), providing a graphical interface for quickly switching between different hosts configurations.

中文版 | A native desktop application designed for users who pursue extreme performance and simplicity, serving as an alternative to the local hosts management functionality of SwitchHosts.

🖥️ Windows Screenshots

SwitchHosts uses approximately 308MB of RAM (Working Set).

LazSwitchHosts uses less than 7MB of memory — extremely lightweight.

The built-in Find & Replace dialog supports regular expressions and case-insensitive matching.

🎯 Core Advantages

• Tiny footprint: Under 6MB compiled, under 2MB with UPX compression — a single standalone executable with zero dependencies
• Minimal memory: Less than 7MB at runtime, saving 98% compared to SwitchHosts (~308MB)
• Instant startup: Native compilation, no framework loading overhead
• Native experience: LCL native UI, fast and responsive
• Plugin-based editor: Reusable editor engine architecture supporting Ctrl+D multi-select editing, syntax highlighting, and find & replace

🔍 Features

• Graphical interface: Cross-platform desktop app based on LCL
• Quick switching: One-click switching between different hosts configurations
• Configuration management: Add, edit, delete, and drag-to-reorder hosts entries
• Syntax highlighting: Color-coded IP addresses, hostnames, and comments
• Multi-select editing: Ctrl+D to select matching words one by one for synchronized replacement
• Find & replace: Supports regular expressions and case-insensitive matching
• Line operations: Ctrl+C/X/V copies/cuts/pastes entire lines when no selection is active
• Keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+S to save, Ctrl+/ to toggle comment, Ctrl+Z/Y for undo/redo
• System tray: Minimize to tray, double-click to restore

Environment Requirements

• Supported platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS
• Development environment: Lazarus IDE
• Dependencies: BGRABitmapPack (install via Lazarus Online Package Manager)

Environment Variables

• LAZ_SWITCHHOSTSDIR: Custom configuration directory (default: ~/.SwitchHosts)
• LAZ_HOSTSFILENAME: Custom hosts file path (default: system hosts file path)

Project Structure

LazSwitchHosts/
????????? lazswitchhosts.lpr              # Program entry point
????????? unitmain.pas                    # Main window UI and event handling
????????? unitconfigmanager.pas           # Configuration manager (JSON)
????????? unitutils.pas                   # Platform utility functions
????????? unithostshighlighter.pas        # Hosts syntax highlighter
????????? unitsearchdialog.pas            # Find & replace dialog
????????? unitmultiselect.pas             # Multi-select (Ctrl+D)
????????? unittoggleswitch.pas            # Toggle switch control

Feature Limitations

This project follows a minimalist design philosophy and is not a full replacement for SwitchHosts. The following features are not supported:

• Remote hosts configuration (URL-based)
• Sub-folder configuration management
• Proxy settings
• Configuration change history backup

Credits

• Icons: https://www.iconfont.cn/collections/detail?cid=19977
• BGRABitmapPack - MPL 2.0 / LGPL v3
• SynEdit - MIT
• LCL - LGPL v2.1

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 — see the LICENSE file for details.