From Linux Man Pages
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 implementing Apple's ZeroConf architecture (also known as "Rendezvous" or "Bon-
jour"). 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 applica-
tions.
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 informa-
tion)
--no-drop-root
Don't drop root priviliges 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
it's 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 informa-
tion.
/etc/avahi/services/*.service: static service definitions, see avahi.service(5) for more information.
SIGNALS
SIGINT, SIGTERM, SIGQUIT: 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.
RELATED
avahi-daemon.conf(5), avahi.hosts(5), avahi.service(5), avahi-dnsconfd(8), avahi-set-host-name(1)
COMMENTS
This man page was written using xml2man(1) by Oliver Kurth.
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