Avahi (software) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Avahi (software) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Avahi (software)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Avahi.
Avahi Avahi-logo.png
Developer: The Avahi Project
Latest release: 0.6.16 / December 29, 2006
OS: Cross-platform
Use: Networking
License: LGPL
Website: avahi.org

Avahi is a system for multicast DNS service discovery. It allows programs to publish and discover services and hosts running on a local network with no specific configuration. For example you can plug into a network and instantly find printers to print to, files to look at and people to talk to. It is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
Architectural overview of the Avahi software framework.
Architectural overview of the Avahi software framework.

Avahi is an implementation of the Zeroconf specification. Other implementations include Apple's open source Bonjour framework and Howl, a framework which is no longer actively maintained.

Avahi provides a set of language bindings (Python, Mono etcetera) and ships with many Linux and *BSD distributions. Because of its modularized architecture, Avahi is already integrated in major desktop components like GNOME's Virtual File System or KDE's input/output architecture."