-<html><head><title>adns - advanced, alternative, asynchronous resolver</title>
-<!--
- Note to GNU webmasters and others who might edit this page: This
- file is maintained in GNU CVS, and also served on the author's own
- system, under the URL http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/adns/
- Please ensure that all links continine to be correct both for
- www.gnu.org and chiark.
-
- If you check in a change, please inform
- webmaster@chiark.greenend.org.uk.
-
- $Id$
- -->
+<html>
+<head>
+<title>adns - advanced, alternative, asynchronous resolver</title>
<link rev="made" href="mailto:adns-maint@chiark.greenend.org.uk">
</head>
<body>
<strong>Advanced, easy to use, asynchronous-capable DNS client
library and utilities.</strong>
+<!-- Note: this file is maintained in Ian Jackson's private CVS. -->
+<!-- -->
+<!-- It is served on the GNU site and also from my own system, -->
+<!-- under the URL http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/adns/ -->
+<!-- Please ensure that all links continine to be correct -->
+<!-- both for www.gnu.org and chiark. -->
+<!-- -->
+<!-- $Id$ -->
+
<p>
-adns is a resolver library for C (and C++) programs. In contrast with
-the existing interfaces, gethostbyname et al and libresolv, it has the
-following features:
+adns is a resolver library for C (and C++) programs, and a collection
+of useful DNS resolver utilities.
+
+
+<h2>C library</h2>
+
+In contrast with the standard interfaces, gethostbyname et al and
+libresolv, it has the following features:
<ul>
environment variables.
<li>Flexibility. For example, the application can tell adns to:
-ignore environment variables (for setuid programs), disable sanity
-checks eg to return arbitrary data, override or ignore resolv.conf in
-favour of supplied configuration, etc.
+ignore environment variables (for setuid programs), disable hostname
+syntax sanity checks to return arbitrary data, override or ignore
+resolv.conf in favour of supplied configuration, etc.
<li>Believed to be correct ! For example, will correctly back off to
TCP in case of long replies or queries, or to other nameservers if
</ul>
+<h2>DNS utility programs</h2>
+
adns also comes with a number of utility programs for use from the
command line and in scripts:
output of netstat -n, tcpdump -ln, and the like, into it.
<li><code>adnshost</code> is a general-purpose DNS lookup utility
-which can be used easily in shell scripts to do simple lookups. In a
-more advanced mode it can be used as a general-purpose DNS helper
-program for scripting languages which can invoke and communicate with
-subprocesses.
+which can be used easily in from the command line and from shell
+scripts to do simple lookups. In a more advanced mode it can be used
+as a general-purpose DNS helper program for scripting languages which
+can invoke and communicate with subprocesses. See the
+<A href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adnshost.txt">adnshost
+usage message</A> for a summary of its capabilities.
</ul>
-<h2>Forthcoming:</h2>
-
-A native Perl interface is in the works, thanks to Tony Finch.
-
-<p>
-
-I hope that future versions may also have the following features:
-
-<ul>
-
-<li>The library should be useable by threads in a multithreaded
-program in a natural way. It should multiplex many threads' queries
-through a single query socket.
-
-<li>IPv6 support.
-
-<li>Some kind of awareness of DNSSEC.
-
-<li>Possibly some very limited caching behaviour.
-
-</ul>
-
-(Technical note: adns requires a real nameserver like
-<A href="http://www.isc.org/view.cgi?/products/BIND/index.phtml">BIND</A>
-or
-<A href="http://www.dents.org/">Dents</A> running on
-the same system or a nearby one, which must be willing to provide
-`recursive service'. I.e., adns is a `stub resolver'. All properly
-configured UN*X and GNU systems will already have such nameserver(s);
-they are usually listed in /etc/resolv.conf.)
-
<h2>Documentation</h2>
I'm afraid there is no manual yet. However, competent C programmers
should be able to use the library based on the
<A href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adns.h.txt">commented
-adns.h header file</A>.
+adns.h header file</A>, and the usage messages for the programs should
+be sufficient.
<h2>Feedback</h2>
I have set up mailinglists <code>adns-announce</code> and
<code>adns-discuss</code>. The announcements list is moderated and
-will contain only announcements of important bugs, new versions, &c.
+will contain only announcements of important bugs, new versions, etc.
The bug reports address mentioned above is also a mailing list; feel
free to subscribe to it.
<A href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/">chiark.greenend.org.uk</A>
are:
<ul>
-<li>The <A href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adns.tar.gz">current beta version</A>
- as a gzipped tarfile.
+<li>The <A href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adns.tar.gz">current
+ release</A> as a gzipped tarfile.
<li><A href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adns.h.txt">adns.h</A>
- API header file with comments (currently there is no manual, sorry).
+ API header file with comments, and
+ <A href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adnshost.txt">usage
+ message for adnshost</A> (currently there is no manual, sorry).
<li>All versions released so far are also available via
<A href="ftp://ftp.chiark.greenend.org.uk/users/ian/adns/">anonymous
- FTP</A>.
+ FTP</A> and <A href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/ftp/">HTTP</A>,
<li>A mirror of my CVS repository is available via rsync from
<code>rsync.chiark.greenend.org.uk::ftp/users/ian/cvs-pub/adns</code>
(use FTP first to find your way around), or via
<A href="http://www.gnu.org/">GNU Project</A> FTP servers and their
<A href="http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html">mirrors</A>.
+<h2>Technical note</h2>
+
+adns requires a real nameserver like
+<A href="http://www.isc.org/view.cgi?/products/BIND/index.phtml">BIND</A>
+or
+<A href="http://www.dents.org/">Dents</A> running on
+the same system or a nearby one, which must be willing to provide
+`recursive service'. I.e., adns is a `stub resolver'. All properly
+configured UN*X and GNU systems will already have such nameserver(s);
+they are usually listed in /etc/resolv.conf.
+
<h2>Copyright and licensing</h2>
-<kbd>adns</kbd> is Copyright 1997-2000 Ian Jackson, Copyright 1999
-Tony Finch, and Copyright (C) 1991 Massachusetts Institute of
-Technology.
+<kbd>adns</kbd> is Copyright 1997-2000 Ian Jackson, Copyright
+1999-2000 Tony Finch, and Copyright (C) 1991 Massachusetts Institute
+of Technology.
<p>
~ianmdlvl / adns.git / blobdiff