Very Computer

Something that's been bugging me for a while:

I have one Mac, running OS X 10.2.3, and one Linux box, running
Linux/MIPSEL 2.2.21. I'd like to get the multicast DNS part of
Rendezvous working on the Linux box, so I can reach both computers
through DNS instead of IP addresses, which I've been doing to date.

So far I've succeeded in doing it one way: I've downloaded and compiled
Apple's mDNS source code, and if I run mDNSResponderPosix, I can assign
the Linux box a ".local" name. Then, when I go over to the Mac, I can
access the Linux system via the .local name. So that part of it works.

But now what I'd like is to be able to do broadcast name lookups on the
Linux box, so I can do this the other way around and reach the Mac. I
have no idea how to do this. Apple's mDNS source code doesn't appear to
do this. I already checked, and it doesn't work out of the box. Not even
mDNSClientPosix can find the Mac.

Would any Rendezvous experts know more about this? Do I need to install
a special lookup daemon to do this? Any ideas would be appreciated...

Nick Zitzmann
Check out my software page: http://dreamless.home.attbi.com/
Go there to send me E-Mail!

Warning! Anything you say will be misinterpreted and quoted
against you ten years from now.

Quote:> Would any Rendezvous experts know more about this? Do I need to install
> a special lookup daemon to do this? Any ideas would be appreciated...

You might want to ask on Apple's Rendezvous mailing list:
<http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/rendezvous>

-Eric

--

http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~ejalbert/

I think there's a basic misunderstanding here: DNS doesn't work by
broadcast.  A machine goes out and requests DNS info from a server.

Are you over complicating this?  On OS X 10.2.3 you could just add ip
addresses and names to /etc/hosts (yes, the text in there says that
only works in single user mode but it is wrong), and the same is true
on the Linux side.  Then you could happily refer to either machine by
name.

--
Tony Lawrence
Learn more about SCO Unix, Mac OS X  or  Linux
Free Sample Download:  http://aplawrence.com/skillstest.html

Except that the whole point of Rendezvous is that none of this is necessary.
The systems conspire themselves to identify everyone willing to
participate, and communicate names and capabilities automatically. Much
like the original AppleTalk protocol, in fact, but over IP.

Sure, one could arbitrarily assign IP addresses and names to the systems;
but that's the "old fashioned" pre-Rendezvous way! If the point is simply
to be able to refer to each of the two systems by name, you're right;
that'd be simpler. If the point, however, is to implement Rendezvous on
Linux and have it work with Mac OS X 10.2.3, as stated, then the hosts file
is irrelevant. ;-)

--

| Hewlett-Packard Company       Tru64 UNIX & VMS Thread Architect |
|     My book: http://www.awl.com/cseng/titles/0-201-63392-2/     |
\----[ http://homepage.mac.com/dbutenhof/Threads/Threads.html ]---/

I confess to having little knowledge of Rendezvous.  But he's wanting
to do this between a Mac and a Linux box, right?  I do see that it's
possible to implement this on Linux (a Google for "Rendezvous linux"
turns up the appropriate stuff) but for just two machines,  it would be
unnecessary effort for me.

Quote:

> Sure, one could arbitrarily assign IP addresses and names to the systems;
> but that's the "old fashioned" pre-Rendezvous way! If the point is simply
> to be able to refer to each of the two systems by name, you're right;
> that'd be simpler. If the point, however, is to implement Rendezvous on
> Linux and have it work with Mac OS X 10.2.3, as stated, then the hosts file
> is irrelevant. ;-)

Well, I sure wouldn't bother with it, but that doesn't mean that the OP
doesn't want to.  So.. if that's what he really wants, he needs to put
Rendezvous on Linux.

--
Tony Lawrence
Learn more about SCO Unix, Mac OS X  or  Linux
Free Sample Download:  http://aplawrence.com/skillstest.html