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 unicast 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 daemon 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/resolv.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.