Advanced, easy to use, asynchronous-capable DNS client library and
utilities.
- 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.
+
+C library
+
+ In contrast with the standard interfaces, gethostbyname et al and
+ libresolv, it has the following features:
* It is reasonably easy to use for simple programs which just want
to translate names to addresses, look up MX records, etc.
* It can be used in an asynchronous, non-blocking, manner. Many
* Understands conventional resolv.conf, but this can overridden by
environment variables.
* 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.
+ 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.
* Believed to be correct ! For example, will correctly back off to
TCP in case of long replies or queries, or to other nameservers if
several are available. It has sensible handling of bad responses
etc.
+DNS utility programs
+
adns also comes with a number of utility programs for use from the
command line and in scripts:
* adnslogres is a much faster version of Apache's logresolv program.
delaying the output. For example, you can usefully pipe the output
of netstat -n, tcpdump -ln, and the like, into it.
* adnshost 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.
+ 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 [1]adnshost
+ usage message for a summary of its capabilities.
Forthcoming:
- A native Perl interface is in the works, thanks to Tony Finch.
-
I hope that future versions may also have the following features:
* The library should be useable by threads in a multithreaded
program in a natural way. It should multiplex many threads'
* IPv6 support.
* Some kind of awareness of DNSSEC.
* Possibly some very limited caching behaviour.
+ * There was, at one point, a draft native Perl interface from Tony
+ Finch.
- (Technical note: adns requires a real nameserver like [1]BIND or
- [2]Dents 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.)
-
Documentation
I'm afraid there is no manual yet. However, competent C programmers
- should be able to use the library based on the [3]commented adns.h
- header file.
+ should be able to use the library based on the [2]commented adns.h
+ header file, and the usage messages for the programs should be
+ sufficient.
Feedback
bug reports, there; otherwise send mail to
adns-bugreports@chiark.greenend.org.uk. If you'd prefer that your
message wasn't forwarded to the adns-bugreports list, send it to
- adns-maint@chiark.greendend.org.uk.
+ adns-maint@chiark.greenend.org.uk.
Mailinglists
I have set up mailinglists adns-announce and adns-discuss. The
announcements list is moderated and will contain only announcements of
- important bugs, new versions, &c. The bug reports address mentioned
+ important bugs, new versions, etc. The bug reports address mentioned
above is also a mailing list; feel free to subscribe to it.
- There are [4]archives and subscription web pages, or you can subscribe
+ There are [3]archives and subscription web pages, or you can subscribe
by sending mail containing the word `subscribe' to
adns-announce-REQUEST@chiark.greenend.org.uk or
adns-discuss-REQUEST@chiark.greenend.org.uk.
Download
- Available for download from [5]chiark.greenend.org.uk are:
- * The [6]current beta version as a gzipped tarfile.
- * [7]adns.h API header file with comments (currently there is no
- manual, sorry).
+ Available for download from [4]chiark.greenend.org.uk are:
+ * The [5]current release as a gzipped tarfile.
+ * [6]adns.h API header file with comments, and [7]usage message for
+ adnshost (currently there is no manual, sorry).
* All versions released so far are also available via [8]anonymous
- FTP.
- * A mirror of my CVS repository is available via rsync from
+ FTP and [9]HTTP.
+
+ You can also access the project CVS repositories:
+ * A mirror of the source code repository is available via rsync from
rsync.chiark.greenend.org.uk::ftp/users/ian/cvs-pub/adns (use FTP
- first to find your way around), or via [9]cvsweb.
+ first to find your way around), or via [10]cvsweb.
+ * This web page is maintained in [11]Savannah, where you can browse
+ the [12]webpage CVS.
- adns is also available from the [10]GNU Project FTP servers and their
- [11]mirrors.
+ adns is also available from the [13]GNU Project FTP servers and their
+ [14]mirrors.
+
+Technical note
+
+ adns requires a real nameserver like [15]BIND or [16]Dents 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.
+References and related projects
+
+ * [17]Python bindings by Andy Dustman.
+ * [18]Haskell bindings by Peter Simons.
+ * [19]liboop event loop library (by Dan Egnor) has a built-in
+ binding for adns.
+ * [20]port to MS Visual Studio 6 C++ by Jarle Aase.
+
Copyright and licensing
- adns is Copyright 1997-2000 Ian Jackson, Copyright 1999 Tony Finch,
- and Copyright (C) 1991 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
+ adns is Copyright 1997-2000,2003,2006 Ian Jackson, Copyright
+ 1999-2000,2003,2006 Tony Finch, and Copyright (C) 1991 Massachusetts
+ Institute of Technology.
adns is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
This program and documentation is distributed in the hope that it will
be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty
of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. See the
- [12]GNU General Public License for more details.
+ [21]GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with adns, or one should be available above; if not, write to
- the [13]Free Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston,
+ the [22]Free Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston,
MA 02111-1307, USA, or email adns-maint@chiark.greenend.org.uk.
_________________________________________________________________
- [14]Ian Jackson / [15]adns-maint@chiark.greenend.org.uk; more [16]free
+ [23]Ian Jackson / [24]adns-maint@chiark.greenend.org.uk; more [25]free
software by me.
- [17]GNU home page; [18]chiark home page; [19]site or mirror home page
+ [26]GNU home page; [27]chiark home page; [28]site or mirror home page
- This web page is Copyright (C)1996-2000 Ian Jackson. See the
- [20]Copyright/acknowledgements.
+ This web page is Copyright (C)1996-2005 Ian Jackson. See the
+ [29]Copyright/acknowledgements.
- Use any browser - [21]Campaign for a non-browser-specific WWW
+ Use any browser - [30]Campaign for a non-browser-specific WWW
References
- 1. http://www.isc.org/view.cgi?/products/BIND/index.phtml
- 2. http://www.dents.org/
- 3. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adns.h.txt
- 4. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/mailman/listinfo
- 5. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/
- 6. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adns.tar.gz
- 7. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adns.h.txt
+ 1. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adnshost.txt
+ 2. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adns.h.txt
+ 3. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/mailman/listinfo
+ 4. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/
+ 5. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adns.tar.gz
+ 6. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adns.h.txt
+ 7. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/adnshost.txt
8. ftp://ftp.chiark.greenend.org.uk/users/ian/adns/
- 9. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~ijackson/cvsweb/adns/
- 10. http://www.gnu.org/
- 11. http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html
- 12. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/COPYING.txt
- 13. http://www.fsf.org/
- 14. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/
- 15. mailto:adns-maint@chiark.greenend.org.uk
- 16. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/software/
- 17. http://www.gnu.org/
- 18. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/
- 19. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/
- 20. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/sw-www-copy.html
- 21. http://www.anybrowser.org/campaign/
+ 9. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/adns/ftp/
+ 10. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~ijackson/cvsweb/adns/
+ 11. http://savannah.gnu.org/
+ 12. http://savannah.gnu.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs/software/adns/?cvsroot=www.gnu.org
+ 13. http://www.gnu.org/
+ 14. http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html
+ 15. http://www.isc.org/view.cgi?/products/BIND/index.phtml
+ 16. http://www.dents.org/
+ 17. http://dustman.net/andy/python/adns-python
+ 18. http://cryp.to/hsdns/
+ 19. http://liboop.ofb.net/ref
+ 20. http://adns.jgaa.com/
+ 21. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/COPYING.txt
+ 22. http://www.fsf.org/
+ 23. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/
+ 24. mailto:adns-maint@chiark.greenend.org.uk
+ 25. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/software/
+ 26. http://www.gnu.org/
+ 27. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/
+ 28. file://localhost/
+ 29. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/sw-www-copy.html
+ 30. http://www.anybrowser.org/campaign/
~ianmdlvl / adns.git / blobdiff