Avahi
lastmod 2026-02-03created 2026-02-032 edits
Avahi is a free-software Zeroconf implementation that includes a system for multicast DNS and DNS service discovery. It is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
Avahi is a system that enables programs to publish and discover services and hosts running on a local network. For example, when a user connects a computer to the network, Avahi automatically advertises the network services running on that machine, helping users access those services easily.
Software architecture
Avahi implements Apple's Zeroconf specification, mDNS, DNS-SD, and RFC 3927/IPv4LL. Another implementation is Apple's Bonjour framework (its mDNSResponder component is available under the Apache License), and Avahi was designed to be able to replace it.
Avahi provides various language bindings (Python, Mono, etc.) and is included in most Linux and BSD distributions. Thanks to its modular architecture, it is already integrated into major desktop components such as the GNOME virtual file system and the KDE input/output architecture.
See also
- Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
- zeroconf
- bonjour