Syntax error while running scripts/mysql_install_db --user=mysql

Currently I’m the process of installing "MySQL"in ubuntu 10.04 system with the help of “Build your own database drivrn web site” by Kevin Yank. While trying to install mysql databas using the command “scripts/mysql_install_db --user=mysql”
I get the following error:

Neither host ‘aruna’ nor ‘localhost’ could be looked up with
/usr/bin/resolveip
Please configure the ‘hostname’ command to return a correct
hostname.
If you want to solve this at a later stage, restart this script
with the --force option
Can you please help me with this?