avahi-daemon(8) System Manager's Manual avahi-daemon(8)
NAME
avahi-daemon - The Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD daemon
SYNOPSIS
avahi-daemon [options]
avahi-daemon --kill
avahi-daemon --reload
avahi-daemon --check
DESCRIPTION
The Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD daemon implements Apple's Zeroconf architecture
(also known as "Rendezvous" or "Bonjour"). The daemon registers local
IP addresses and static services using mDNS/DNS-SD and provides two IPC
APIs for local programs to make use of the mDNS record cache the avahi-
daemon maintains. First there is the so called "simple protocol" which
is used exclusively by avahi-dnsconfd (a daemon which configures uni-
cast DNS servers using server info published via mDNS) and nss-mdns (a
libc NSS plugin, providing name resolution via mDNS). Finally there is
the D-Bus interface which provides a rich object oriented interface to
D-Bus enabled applications.
Upon startup avahi-daemon interprets its configuration file
/etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf and reads XML fragments from
/etc/avahi/services/*.service which may define static DNS-SD services.
If you enable publish-resolv-conf-dns-servers in avahi-daemon.conf the
file /etc/resolv.conf will be read, too.
OPTIONS
-f | --file= FILE
Specify the configuration file to read. (default:
/etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf)
-D | --daemonize
Daemonize after startup. Implies --syslog.
-s | --syslog
Log to syslog instead of STDERR. Implied by --daemonize.
--debug
Increase verbosity to debug level.
--no-rlimits
Don't enforce resource limits as specified in the configuration
file. (See setrlimit(2) for more information)
--no-drop-root
Don't drop root privileges after startup and don't require dae-
mon to be started as root. We recommend not to use this option.
--no-chroot
Don't chroot(2) the daemon. This option is only available when
compiled with chroot() support.
--no-proc-title
Don't change the process name while running. Unless this option
is specified avahi-daemon will reflect its current state and the
selected host name in the process title.
-k | --kill
Kill an already running avahi-daemon. (equivalent to sending a
SIGTERM)
-r | --reload
Tell an already running avahi-daemon to reread /etc/resolv.conf
(in case you enabled publish-resolv-conf-dns-servers in avahi-
daemon.conf) the files from /etc/avahi/services/. Please note
that this will not reload the /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf.
(equivalent to sending a SIGHUP)
-c | --check
Return 0 as return code when avahi-daemon is already running.
-h | --help
Show help
-v | --version
Show version information
FILES
/etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf: the default configuration file for avahi-
daemon, avahi-daemon.conf(5) for more information.
/etc/avahi/hosts: additional static hostname mappings to publish in
mDNS, see avahi.hosts(5) for more information.
/etc/avahi/services/*.service: static service definitions, see
avahi.service(5) for more information.
SIGNALS
SIGINT, SIGTERM: avahi-daemon will shutdown. (Same as --kill).
SIGHUP: avahi-daemon will reload unicast DNS server data from /etc/re-
solv.conf and static service definitions from /etc/avahi/services/.
(Same as --reload)
SIGUSR1: avahi-daemon will dump local and remote cached resource record
data to syslog.
AUTHORS
The Avahi Developers <avahi (at) lists (dot) freedesktop (dot) org>;
Avahi is available from http://avahi.org/
SEE ALSO
avahi-daemon.conf(5), avahi.hosts(5), avahi.service(5), avahi-
dnsconfd(8), avahi-set-host-name(1)
http://avahi.org/wiki/AvahiAndUnicastDotLocal documents the problems
when using Avahi in a unicast DNS zone .local.
COMMENTS
This man page was written using xml2man(1) by Oliver Kurth.
Manuals User avahi-daemon(8)
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