Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 
Fichier /etc/host.conf :
# The "order" line is only used by old versions of the C library.
order hosts,bind
multi on
Cela donne :
$ dig localhost 
; <<>> DiG 9.9.5-3ubuntu0.14-Ubuntu <<>> localhost
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 30526
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 2
;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 4096
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;localhost.			IN	A
;; ANSWER SECTION:
localhost.		604800	IN	A	127.0.0.1
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
localhost.		604800	IN	NS	localhost.
;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
localhost.		604800	IN	AAAA	::1
;; Query time: 0 msec
;; SERVER: 91.194.96.11#53(91.194.96.11)
;; WHEN: Sat Apr 22 10:57:28 CEST 2017
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 96