Rendezvous For Apache

sapporo writes "Eric Christopher Seidel has released mod_rendezvous. The DSO lets the Apache that comes with Mac OS X advertise its services on the local network via Rendezvous, so it will show up in Safari's Rendezvous Bookmarks section. This lets you browse all web servers on the local network very conveniently. Nice one!" I wonder, could it work on Linux too? I would think so ...

Comments

Re:interesting...

[byolinux]

Rendezvous is extremely cool tech.

For a really successful Apple topic on slashdot it needs to be...

a) something that's big in Open Source/Free software anyway like OpenOffice for Mac
b) rumour/lies
c) Apple hardware announcment

Which is a shame, because the Mac platform is really the only innovation I can see in the computing world right now. Take the Safari browser for example, David Hyatt is actually responding to other people's blogs about Safari and actually taking notice. No other company is doing things to this level of service.

Very nice idea

[Matthias Wiesmann]

I was also suprised that Apple did not activate this for personal web sharing. It is nice that somebody corrected it. This said, in my case, the hack does not work correctly: it seems the advertised local address has a period after the .local domain, so the browser can't find the actual web server.

I really hope that rendez-vous technologies get ported to other Unixes soon. For instance, multicast DNS is really nice in LANs where IP addresses are assigned via DHCP. You can simply type something like ssh server.local and it works. When you use laptops, it is really a killer feature.

Re:Very nice idea

[pudge]

I really hope that rendez-vous technologies get ported to other Unixes soon.

You mean like mDNSResponder?

cd Rendezvous/mDNSPosix
make os=linux

w00p, indeed.

Re:Very nice idea

[chmouel]

At MandrakeSoft we currently working on it.

Re:Very nice idea

[Twirlip of the Mists]

Thou shalt get thee to Apple's Rendezvous developer page immediately and readeth up on it, for thou doest knoweth not of why thou speaketh.

Works great...

[djupedal]

download...unpack...run....restart apache...done

Re:Not really open sourced

[entrylevel]

When I went to the site (2 days ago), there was a note that said 'If you want the source, e-mail me and I'll send it to you.' Perhaps he didn't think too many people would be interested, or has limited webspace.

Re:interesting...

[Twirlip of the Mists]

Take the Safari browser for example, David Hyatt is actually responding to other people's blogs about Safari and actually taking notice.

If by "actually taking notice" you mean "fixing reported bugs left and right," you're right. Hyatt's team is doing some incredible stuff. They're just chewing through bug reports.

I've emailed David asking if they plan to put WebCore and JavaScriptCore on the public CVS server so we can test newer builds. No answer yet, but I'll bet I get a "yes" back soon.

Yes, really open sourced!

[Twirlip of the Mists]

the code has not been made available (although the author claims he will send it to you if you send him an email)

You know that the GPL itself requires nothing more, right? A program does not have to have its source code up on a server for it to be open source. Under the GPL, it merely has to come with a written offer to provide the source at no charge or a nominal charge. Eric's following the letter of that rule, even though he's not using the GPL. Good for him, I say.

Why don't you send him an email and see what you get back?

Re:Rendezvous info

[Twirlip of the Mists]

Is there any technical info on Rendezvous?

There is tons of technical info on Rendezvous. Google for it, or look at the canonical source. (You can also download source from there.)

Does it not broadcast across subnets?

This is a FAQ:

Q: Does Rendezvous work across routers (between multiple subnets)?

A: No. The first release of DNS Service Discovery (DNS-SD) for Mac OS X concentrates on Multicast DNS (mDNS) for single-link networks because this is the environment worst served by current IP software. Future versions will add Dynamic Update and unicast query support.

Multicast DNS is intended for use on small networks with no infrastructure support, and intentionally uses link-local multicast. If a network has two links then it needs a bridge or router to connect those links, so by definition you now have a box that is (or should be) capable of providing some level of infrastructure support.

It is important to understand that DNS-SD is orthogonal to mDNS. You can use one without the other. In the example given above, the router that is connecting the two links should also include a DHCP server to assign addresses, and a little mini-DNS server which handles both standard DNS queries and Dynamic DNS Updates [RFC 3007]. The devices offering services on that network then advertise their services by using Dynamic Update to register their service records with the mini-DNS server in the router, and clients looking for services use normal unicast DNS queries addressed to that server to retrieve those service records.

Not the same thing

[Matthias Wiesmann]

While the basic functionality is similar, both approaches are quite different and quite complimentary. Dynamic DNS makes sense for servers that need to be reachable from the whole internet.

Dynamic DNS makes little sense if somebody plugs-in a laptop in a LAN. You don't want to update your DNS data to include a laptop that might stay connected for a few minutes! There are also administrative issues: DNS updates will certainly not be allowed for arbitrary machines or arbitrary DNS names.

Multicast DNS solves this problem nicely and even works when you don't have a server. So if a friend plugs a laptop in your home network you can address his machine using a logical name.

Different problems, different solutions...

Re:Great - For Safari...

[marmoset]

Chimera nightlies support browsing to Rendezvous sites. I can't remember whether or not it's turned on by default, though.