Last month’s release of KDE 3.4 was the first to feature Zeroconf’s service discovery. Relevant applications can advertise their services, such as shared folders or networked games, which can then be browsed with the zeroconf:/ ioslave. KDE Dot News spoke to the man behind KDE’s Zeroconf support Jakub Stachowski to find out more on this exciting technology.
Jakub Stachowski: Zeroconf Support in KDE
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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The comments on the licensing of various implementations was quite interesting, as I’d always wondered about Howl and the Apple mDNSResponder stuff and the Apple license stuff that’s gone on.
If widespread support can be had amongst Linux and Unix systems, together with Apple, this could be a fairly killer technology. It could certainly kill uPNP off completely, as that has never really taken off. Apple should just put their thinking cap on and come up with an adequate license.
this is very cool. might have to drop gnome, but its hard. gnome just feels nicer. i dont know what to do.
A Rendezvous/Zeroconf support framework is ALREADY in Gnome-VFS.
this is very cool. might have to drop gnome, but its hard. gnome just feels nicer. i dont know what to do.
GNOME has have zeroconf since 2.8, it is clasic from a KDE developer to say “they did it before us but we are better”.
As I’ve been reading about UPnP and ZeroConf, I see some overlap in functionality, but it seems like both have features that the other doesn’t. So that it’s not necessarily one or the other, but maybe both can be useful. For example, UPnP allows an intelligent device (like a computer) to configure a router to obtain information and also open temporary ports. But I don’t see such a feature with ZeroConf. On the other hand, ZeroConf seems to be primarily useful for service broadcasting (using Multicast DNS), and I haven’t seem UPnP used for this purpose (for example, as part of a web server). As far as the automatic addressing is concerned–although part of ZeroConf, that’s been around before (clear back to Win98 in the form of Automatic Private IP Addressing). Any thoughts about this? Am I misunderstanding something?
but is he lying in any fashion. It maybe there but how exploited is it? How hard is it to exploit?
I figure the guy had to search around, KDE devs love reusing code, it’s a big mantra, so, I ask you, how far off was he?
> it is clasic from a KDE developer to say “they did it before us but we are better”.
So please do tell in which points this GNOME support listing is wrong or incomplete.
> UPnP allows an intelligent device (like a computer) to
> configure a router to obtain information and also open
> temporary ports.
Because that’s a REALLY good idea…..
Please stop this silly flamewars. Yes, GNOME VFS has zeroconf/rendevous/how it called now thingy for quite a time. Yes, it is brand new and if we honest, I haven’t seen it working properly – altough I would really like to.
So… all I want to see is that GNOME, KDE and OS X can share resources with elegance as zeroconf/randevous allows us to do. Is it common goal. For me, it is quite useful feature, because I have lot of OS X boxes around me
@Jonathan VE
Yes it does. Network Address Translation Port Mapping Protocol
http://developer.apple.com/networking/bonjour/index.html
Apple is developing a free download for windows users to get full support also. Should be out soon.
Welcome to the future!
back to watching HD trailers on my tricked out PBook…
> Yes, it is brand new and if we honest, I haven’t
> seen it working properly –
So it’s just like with gnome vfs itself? Or the “cairo support” which has been announced on this newssite just recently (because a gnome developer added a _header-file_ to the source code tree which isn’t more than a notice of intent and which would any serious person make cringe)? Or the hideous competitor to KDE’s kiosk framework Gnome fan boys claim to have since .. 1872 or whatever.
I’ve been around for almost ten years wrt Gnome and KDE and with gnome’s technology it’s almost always the same: Each time some gnome developer has the slight idea to support technology XYZ with barely having implemented anything at all gnome fan boys start to run around and make bold statements that they support XYZ already. It was the same with accessibility back in 2000 when Gnome didn’t actually have anything serious to show with regards to accessibility and the behaviour hasn’t changed a single bit.
Another pattern is that as soon as they realize that they don’t have a viable competitor they start to run around and randomly declare project WXY to be Gnome’s answer (although project WXY usually isn’t related to Gnome in any way at all – and often doesn’t even want to be).
Why for example does the IBM Redbook on Linux desktop migration just cover mostly KDE technologies in every detail (with gnome foundation member Tom Schwaller even being among the authors)? Because most KDE technologies (like kioslaves, DCOP, kparts, kiosk framework, etc.) actually _proved_ to work in terms of concept as well as actual implementation and have been _widely_ adopted since years. Gnome on the other hand has many “technologies” which are rather in its infancy and barely used: Think of gnomevfs or e.g. Bonobo – with the latter being a joke if you take into account that GNOME started to come into existance as the GNOME Network Object Model Environment and they still lack a _viable_ component model up to the present day! Now _that’s_ classic!
Hmmm.. you didnt read the article!
He actually said :”Gnome also started before KDE – about half a year earlier in their 2.8 release”
compared to KDE… the fact is, that usually the KDE people have a working version up and running for at least a year. Then some gnome developer comes along, has the idea to have something like it, implements it fails and then starts to scream we dont need it anyway instead of trying to get over his pride and port the working kde solution.
If it works for one time, they push it over fdo to make it a defacto standard and kde has to drop its working solution and reimplements the gnome stuff.
This scheme happens again and again. KAutomator is dropped in favor of infobus, bonobo never became usable due to the exact problems, the KDE people warned Iczaza first hand because they were there and basically failed and reimplemented it over again, the second time working and it is called now kparts. Bonobo still is a joke.
And Gnome still is heavily in need for a decent compound document format (hint, kparts still is very open for adotion and everyone would beenfit from a unified model)
The thumbnail format was adopted by kde although KDE had thumbails in in the first place…
KDE went for an OO route in the first place (having learned the lesson from NeXT and the StarDivision), now Gnome adopts C# left and right because they need an OO language based foundation to make the implementation apis sane.
Gnome could be much futher if they would get from their high horses of constantly being second and trying to reinvent the wheels worse…
Sorry, google know nothing about KAutomator and thinks infobus is an data exchange between java-beans.
Have not you mean anything else there?
A Rendezvous/Zeroconf support framework is ALREADY in Gnome-VFS.
The Gnome support has currently stalled as people argue over licensing issues – again. Apple should help there though. Even Howl has some Apple code in it, and they seem to be waiting for a once-stalled project called Avahi.
GNOME has have zeroconf since 2.8, it is clasic from a KDE developer to say “they did it before us but we are better”.
Well, considering that Gnome support started, and then stopped, due to the same, familiar reasons you have to say that’s right. He never actually said that that though.
>> UPnP allows an intelligent device (like a computer) to
>> configure a router to obtain information and also open
>> temporary ports.
>Because that’s a REALLY good idea…..
BING! We have a winner! G!
<<The Gnome support has currently stalled as people argue over licensing issues – again. Apple should help there though. Even Howl has some Apple code in it, and they seem to be waiting for a once-stalled project called Avahi.>>
Yes I know, its in the interview.
For upstream that is true but projects like Dropline Gnome ship Howl. I’m not trying to start a big thing, I’m using KDE now as I have a need for heavy networking and love it.
christ all mighty….. has it really been almost 10 years for the DE projects? 1996… ugh.. what happened 🙁
Venerable GNUstep has had support of Bonjour (formerly known as Rendezvous) for more than a year now.
Another useless technology from Apple. Microsoft had an open standard long ago called UPNP. I’m using it right now with my router. UPNP enabled programs that I have authorized through the firewall are forwarding ports to my router. Most people who post here are completely clueless about what they are talking.