On 8/21/06, Pat Lashley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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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