Serialization problems

[SpaceBeeGaming 3]

So, I have been working on an API which allows me to assign additional addresses to computers. And No I have a moment of confusion:

function internal.dns.loadHosts()
  local HOST_FILE_LOC = os.getenv("HOST_FILE_LOC")
  print(HOST_FILE_LOC) --Prints /usr/misc/hosts.txt
  assert(HOST_FILE_LOC, "Missing environment variable: HOST_FILE_LOC pointing to a file used for storing dns mamppings ")
  if (filesystem.exists(HOST_FILE_LOC)) then
    local hostFile = io.open(HOST_FILE_LOC)
    print(serialization.unserialize(hostFile:read("*all"))) --prints a table
    local hosts
    hosts = serialization.unserialize(hostFile:read("*all"))
    print(hosts) -- prints nil
    hostFile:close()
    return hosts --Return a table of hosts, if successful
  else
    return nil --Return nil if hostfile doesnt exist
  end
end

Why is it that these two seemingly same calls return different values. one is table other is nil?

[Molinko 43]

I haven't tested but I believe the file descriptor has a file position. After the call to :read("*all") you're at the end of the file and thus nil is returned.

[SpaceBeeGaming 3]

That was part of the problem, also the issue might have been some typos, which I fixed before. It now works as expected.