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Arkane.Zeroconf

A Zero Configuration Networking library for .NET.

Build status

ko-fi

Basically, this is my forked version of Mono.Zeroconf for my .NET projects, which exists simply because I needed a version with various fixes that have been submitted in pull requests over the last few years, and which the release version of that package doesn't have. API, etc., are identical to that of Mono.Zeroconf except for the different namespace.

Documentation

  • API Guide - public API reference, platform behavior notes, and top-level usage examples.

Provider behavior by platform

Arkane.Zeroconf uses a simple provider selection model:

  • Bonjour provider is preferred whenever it is available.
  • On Windows 11+, if Bonjour is not available, Arkane.Zeroconf falls back to the WindowsMdns provider.
  • On Linux, if Avahi is not available, Arkane.Zeroconf falls back to the SystemdResolved provider.
  • This is a fallback mechanism, not a general-purpose configurable provider priority system.

Provider behavior:

  • Bonjour provider (preferred): lookup and publish support.
  • Windows fallback provider (WindowsMdns): used when Bonjour is unavailable on Windows 11+, and provides lookup-only behavior using Windows DNS-SD APIs (DnsServiceBrowse/DnsServiceResolve).
  • Linux Avahi: Bonjour provider operates through Avahi compatibility mode when available.
  • Linux fallback provider (SystemdResolved): used when Avahi is unavailable on Linux. Supports browse and resolve via the org.freedesktop.resolve1 D-Bus interface. Publishing is additionally supported when the system's MulticastDNS mode is yes and the calling process is authorized by polkit (requires sudo or a polkit rule).

Capability checks

Use the capability API before starting operations:

if (!ZeroconfSupport.CanBrowse)
    throw new InvalidOperationException("mDNS lookup is not available.");

if (!ZeroconfSupport.CanPublish)
    Console.WriteLine("Publishing is unavailable for the selected provider.");

Publishing with the Windows fallback provider throws PlatformNotSupportedException by design. Publishing with the Linux SystemdResolved fallback provider also throws PlatformNotSupportedException when the calling process is not polkit-authorized for service registration; check ZeroconfSupport.CanPublish before calling Register().

Windows notes

For full lookup-and-publish behavior on Windows, install Bonjour:

winget install Apple.Bonjour

When Bonjour is installed, it remains the preferred provider on Windows. When Bonjour is not installed but the OS supports Windows DNS-SD lookup (Windows 11+), browsing and resolving continue to work through the fallback provider. If neither provider is available, Zeroconf initialization will fail because no compatible provider can be selected.

Linux notes

For full lookup-and-publish behavior on Linux, install Avahi:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install avahi-daemon libavahi-compat-libdnssd1

# Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf install avahi avahi-compat-libdns_sd

When Avahi is not installed, Arkane.Zeroconf automatically falls back to the SystemdResolved provider if systemd-resolved is running and MulticastDNS is enabled. To enable MulticastDNS in systemd-resolved, set MulticastDNS=yes in /etc/systemd/resolved.conf and restart the service.

Publishing via SystemdResolved requires polkit authorization. Running with sudo or granting the org.freedesktop.resolve1 polkit policy to the user is necessary for full publish capability.

As per the original readme:

More information about Mono.Zeroconf can be found on its project page on the Mono Wiki:

http://mono-project.com/Mono.Zeroconf

General information about Zero Configuration Networking:

http://www.zeroconf.org/

Authorship of the majority of the code remains with Aaron Bockover abockover@novell.com .