<s>
Avahi	B-Language
is	O
a	O
free	B-Application
zero-configuration	B-Application
networking	I-Application
(	O
zeroconf	B-Application
)	O
implementation	O
,	O
including	O
a	O
system	O
for	O
multicast	O
DNS/DNS	O
-SD	O
service	B-Protocol
discovery	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
licensed	O
under	O
the	O
GNU	B-Application
Lesser	I-Application
General	I-Application
Public	I-Application
License	I-Application
(	O
LGPL	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Avahi	B-Language
is	O
a	O
system	O
which	O
enables	O
programs	O
to	O
publish	O
and	O
discover	O
services	O
and	O
hosts	O
running	O
on	O
a	O
local	B-General_Concept
network	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
a	O
user	O
can	O
plug	O
a	O
computer	O
into	O
a	O
network	O
and	O
have	O
Avahi	B-Language
automatically	O
advertise	O
the	O
network	B-General_Concept
services	I-General_Concept
running	O
on	O
its	O
machine	O
,	O
facilitating	O
user	O
access	O
to	O
those	O
services	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Avahi	B-Language
implements	O
the	O
Apple	O
Zeroconf	B-Application
specification	O
,	O
mDNS	B-Protocol
,	O
DNS-SD	O
and	O
RFC	O
3927/IPv4LL	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
implementations	O
include	O
Apple	O
's	O
Bonjour	B-Application
framework	O
(	O
the	O
mDNSResponder	O
component	O
of	O
which	O
is	O
licensed	O
under	O
the	O
Apache	B-Application
License	I-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Avahi	B-Language
provides	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
language	O
bindings	O
(	O
Python	B-Language
,	O
Mono	B-Application
,	O
etc	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
and	O
ships	O
with	O
most	O
Linux	B-Application
and	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
distributions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
of	O
its	O
modularized	O
architecture	O
,	O
major	O
desktop	O
components	O
like	O
GNOME	B-Language
Virtual	I-Language
file	I-Language
system	I-Language
and	O
KDE	B-Application
input/output	B-Language
architecture	I-Language
already	O
integrate	O
Avahi	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Avahi	B-Language
project	O
started	O
in	O
2004	O
because	O
Apple	O
's	O
Zeroconf	B-Application
implementation	O
,	O
Bonjour	B-Application
,	O
used	O
the	O
GPL-incompatible	O
Apple	B-License
Public	I-License
Source	I-License
License	I-License
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2006	O
Apple	O
relicensed	O
parts	O
of	O
Bonjour	B-Application
under	O
the	O
Apache	B-Application
License	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Avahi	B-Language
's	O
performance	O
resembles	O
that	O
of	O
Bonjour	B-Application
,	O
sometimes	O
exceeding	O
it	O
;	O
however	O
Avahi	B-Language
can	O
lose	O
services	O
when	O
managing	O
large	O
numbers	O
of	O
requests	O
simultaneously	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Avahi	B-Language
was	O
developed	O
by	O
Lennart	O
Poettering	O
and	O
Trent	O
Lloyd	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
the	O
result	O
of	O
a	O
merger	O
in	O
2005	O
of	O
Poettering	O
's	O
original	O
mDNS/DNS	B-Protocol
-SD	I-Protocol
implementation	O
called	O
"	O
FlexMDNS	O
"	O
,	O
and	O
Lloyd	O
's	O
original	O
code	O
called	O
"	O
Avahi	B-Language
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Development	O
on	O
"	O
FlexMDNS	O
"	O
started	O
in	O
late	O
2004	O
,	O
and	O
work	O
on	O
the	O
original	O
"	O
Avahi	B-Language
"	O
began	O
in	O
early	O
2004	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Avahi	B-Language
was	O
originally	O
developed	O
under	O
the	O
freedesktop.org	B-Application
umbrella	O
,	O
but	O
has	O
now	O
become	O
a	O
separate	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Avahi	B-Language
,	O
however	O
,	O
makes	O
use	O
of	O
org	O
's	O
D-Bus	B-Language
IPC	O
layer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
name	O
Avahi	B-Language
is	O
the	O
Malagasy	O
native	O
name	O
and	O
scientific	O
Latin	O
name	O
of	O
a	O
genus	O
of	O
woolly	O
lemur	O
,	O
a	O
family	O
of	O
primates	O
indigenous	O
to	O
Madagascar	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Perhaps	O
in	O
coincidence	O
,	O
Avahi	B-Language
backwards	O
is	O
"	O
I-hav-a	O
"	O
,	O
a	O
description	O
of	O
a	O
discovery	O
advertisement	O
.	O
</s>
