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Date:      Mon, 21 Aug 2006 16:21:39 -0700
From:      "Kevin Downey" <redchin@gmail.com>
To:        "Pat Lashley" <patl+freebsd@volant.org>
Cc:        freebsd-net@freebsd.org, Fredrik Lindberg <fli+freebsd-net@shapeshifter.se>
Subject:   Re: Zeroconfig and Multicast DNS
Message-ID:  <1d3ed48c0608211621w3f15c31erb5e86c4e40edb6fe@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <9C04919EE684029A410DE208@garrett.local>
References:  <44E9F991.7020309@shapeshifter.se> <DD49A62B2AB4E38804FB10B6@garrett.local> <44EA1926.2000501@shapeshifter.se> <9C04919EE684029A410DE208@garrett.local>

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On 8/21/06, Pat Lashley <patl+freebsd@volant.org> wrote:
>
> > > Actually, that is IPv4 Link Local Addressing. Zeroconfig includes
> that,
> > > Multicast DNS, Service Discovery and anything else that removes the
> need
> > > for manual configuration.
> >
> > Yeah, I actually know that. It's just that I've developed a bad habit of
> > calling it zeroconfig in the absence of a short name, calling it
> > "ipv4 link local addressing" every time tends to get a bit tedious.
> > But I should not have done that in my previous mail, my apologies.
>
> After a quick look at your website, I figured you were probably aware of
> the
> correct usage; but thought that it might be a good idea to clarify the
> point
> for others on the list who might be new to the idea.
>
>
> > > I'm very glad to hear that somebody is working on IPv4 Link Local for
> > > FreeBSD.
> > >
> > >> Multicast DNS is DNS without a server, you can think of it as mixing
> > >> ...
> > >
> > > Doesn't the net/mDNSResponder port handle both mDNS and (m)DNS-based
> > > service discovery? Is it missing some functionality that can't be
> easily
> > > handled by a wrapper?  (E.g. An nss_mdns that uses their libdns_sd.so)
> > >
> >
> > I didn't know there was a port of Apples daemon and I'm sure it
> > works just fine. The only thing that might be an issue is licensing
> > terms, at least in embedded solutions. My code is under a BSD license.
>
> Actually, the Apple license looks pretty reasonable; even for embedded
> applications.
>
> > I'll continue to hack on my responder anyway, as it's not that
> > far from completion.
>
> Since sending that email, I also discovered that there's a net/gdns port
> for
> the GNU version. But it appears to be under the GPL; which would be more
> of an
> issue.
>
> I just thought that it might be easier to work with one of these
> established
> projects.
>
> > The service discovery part is just a set of records in the responder
> > which it responds to, a service discovery client/agent is needed to
> > find announced records.
>
> The Apple way seems to assume that the individual applications will be
> linked
> with the service discovery library. I'm not sure that they even provide a
> method for the end-user to browse all available services. There is a
> postcard-ware third-party app called Browsejour from bleepsoft; but I'm
> sure
> that it's GUI is OS X specific. A browsing utility would certainly be
> useful;
> but if I were starting such a project, I'd write it to use one of the
> existing
> libraries from the ports. (Ideally choosing which at build time.) Of
> course,
> you aren't just starting your project, you're fairly well along; so I can
> understand your reluctance to switch.
>
> Is your library API fairly close to the one in mDNSResponder or gmdns? If
> so,
> it should be fairly easy to make your apps work with whichever library is
> installed. (I'm just thinking ahead to the point where projects like
> Apache,
> Firefox, and various GNOME apps have added service announcement/discovery
> and
> sysadmins are asking themselves why they need three different mDNS
> libraries
> installed at once...)
>
> Also, you mention the discovery client/agent; but not the advertisement.
> I'd
> really like to see an easy way to advertise services without having to
> modify
> the daemons to announce themselves. I'm particularly thinking of
> long-running
> daemons for services like http, ssh, ftp, etc.; where the service is
> generally
> made available as part of the boot sequence. It would really be great if
> the
> service advertisement could be done as a one-line addition to their rc
> scripts.
> (Something like: '[ -x /path/to/announcer ] && announce service' would be
> safe
> even if the mDNS stuff isn't installed.  Actually, I suppose you'd also
> want a
> line to revoke the annoouncement in the 'stop' section. )
>
>
>
> -Pat
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>

avahi provides a method for anouncing services for daemons that are not mdns
aware. It is also a gnome dep. and is in ports. I would really love to see a
nsswitch module for resolving mdns names since that is all that apears to be
missing.

-- 
luctor et emergo



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