• Registered: 2010-03-26
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Topic: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

I've noticed that CrunchBang Statler alpha-2 has the Avahi daemon installed.  Do I really need this?  As best I understand it implements and/or maintains an ad-hoc network to facilitate file-sharing.  Yes?  No?

I've read http://avahi.org/ which says Avahi is a system which facilitates service discovery on a local network. This means that you can plug your laptop or computer into a network and instantly be able to view other people who you can chat with, find printers to print to or find files being shared. This kind of technology is already found in Apple MacOS X (branded Rendezvous, Bonjour and sometimes Zeroconf) and is very convenient. Avahi is mainly based on Lennart Poettering's flexmdns mDNS implementation for Linux which has been discontinued in favour of Avahi.

I've looked at or read most of these http://www.google.com/search?hl=en& … h&aq=f in an attempt to find a solution.  The odds of me ever using it are small but which is considered the better way, the proper way of disabling it permanently?  What should I do?  If it were you what would you do? 

1. just delete the files and supposing I need them someday re-install them
2. download rcconf and delete avahi from its menu thus keeping it from starting much like bluetooth was done here http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/post/69103/#p69103
3. use the technique here http://en.kioskea.net/faq/739-disabling … ahi-daemon to disable it in my files

This isn't about securing additional space on a small netbook but I reckon more about not having services running that aren't needed.  Like I said

....The odds of me ever using it are small....

EDIT - marked as [SOLVED]

Last edited by winotree (2010-07-04 18:19:19)

  • From: California, USA
  • Registered: 2008-11-29
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

Go with the rcconf method.

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  • Registered: 2010-03-26
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

Thank you, sir.  [can we say f-a-s-t?]  wink

  • Registered: 2010-06-30
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

4 . uninstall it

Nothing in the default install depends on it. Anything you install in the future that depends on it will install it anyway.

rip it out!

refracta - a small bottle of debian magic
  • Registered: 2010-03-26
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

rip it out!

I was going to say a man after my own heart but thought better of it!  neutral

  • From: California, USA
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

AnInkedSoul wrote:

Nothing in the default install depends on it.

Well damn, you're right! Must be apt-get choosing to install recommended packages.

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  • Registered: 2010-06-30
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

...in six months you will install the automagical printer config tool and wonder why it isn't working....you will file a bug and get jumped because nobody can reproduce it.....you will end up reinstalling and everything will 'just work' then.....all because you forgot that six months ago you disabled avahi-daemon instead of uninstalling it

the crystal ball never lies!

refracta - a small bottle of debian magic
  • Registered: 2010-03-26
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

AnInkedSoul wrote:

...in six months you will install the automagical printer config tool and wonder why it isn't working....you will file a bug and get jumped because nobody can reproduce it.....you will end up reinstalling and everything will 'just work' then.....all because you forgot that six months ago you disabled avahi-daemon instead of uninstalling it

the crystal ball never lies!

The state my short-term memory is in I doubt it'll take that long.  tongue

  • pvsage
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

Just to see what would happen, I asked aptitude to purge avahi-daemon.  It said that crunchbang-openbox-packages and crunchbang-xfce-packages recommend avahi-utils, avahi-daemon, and libnss-mdns.  Since I know Philip designed Statler to be fast and low-resource, I assume he had good reason to list these as recommends.  Therefore, I'd err on the side of caution and not disable or remove avahi-daemon until The Powers That Be (in this case Philip) weighs in on the subject.

while ( ! ( succeed = try() ) );
  • Registered: 2010-03-26
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

Right.  Waiting.  Just so y'all know, anything disabled in rcconf just moves to the bottom of the list.  Ticking, or selecting, enables it again.  Easy enough to fix.

EDIT - NOTE TO SELF:  Learn basics of aptitude

Last edited by winotree (2010-07-04 23:15:50)

  • Registered: 2010-06-30
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

Since I know Philip designed Statler to be fast and low-resource

odd....I could swear someone just told me in another thread that it wasn't designed to be low-resource wink

I assume he had good reason to list these as recommends.

but he didn't list them as depends.... The more interesting part is that no other packages actually need avahi-daemon. Although I guess it is possible that networkmanager may optionally use it....about the only thing I could think of.

Therefore, I'd err on the side of caution and not disable or remove avahi-daemon until The Powers That Be (in this case Philip) weighs in on the subject.

Sheesh....where is the fun in that....sounds kinda scary if you cant remove something without fear of breaking it or without getting approval first...

Last edited by AnInkedSoul (2010-07-05 00:28:22)

refracta - a small bottle of debian magic
  • Registered: 2009-11-03
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

I don't think network manager uses Avahi in any way (I might be wrong, though).

If I remember correctly, Avahi allows you to see certain  services running on other machines in your network, so that might be part of the reason why Corenominal kept it.

I disabled avahi the first day I installed Statler (along with some  other stuff like cron...all using rcconf), and haven't had any problems so far. Probably shaved 4 tenths of a second off my desktop's boot time as well (that's 3 rows worth of starting positions in F1 qualifying, fyi) =P

Last edited by gutterslob (2010-07-05 01:09:43)

Point & Squirt
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

Maybe it recognizes things like network-enabled printers on a LAN?

while ( ! ( succeed = try() ) );
  • Registered: 2010-06-30
  • Posts: 106

Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

A few apps use avahi (and related packages) for various uses often related to automagic network configuration and automatic service detection and so forth but even then it is usually not the ONLY way of doing that but rather it is just one way of doing that.  That being said, it is usually a bit picky about configuration (google avahi local domain) and the simple fix doesn't seem to really work....at least with lenny not sure if anything has been fixed in squeeze....


Does statler even have printing support included?

refracta - a small bottle of debian magic
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

^ Installing print support is an option in the cb_welcome script.

while ( ! ( succeed = try() ) );
  • Registered: 2010-03-26
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

nm

Last edited by winotree (2010-07-05 02:13:52)

  • From: Lincoln, UK
  • Registered: 2008-11-20
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

The Avahi packages were added to the second Statler alpha. They were not included in the first alpha. I included them because I find that addressing my machines by their hostname on my local network is quite handy, especially as only one machine has a static IP address. If you do not require this feature, you can try removing it with the following command:

apt-get autoremove avahi-utils avahi-daemon libnss-mdns

Let us know how you get on. smile

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  • From: California, USA
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

corenominal wrote:

I included them because I find that addressing my machines by their hostname on my local network is quite handy

Have you tried using the HOSTS file for that?

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  • From: Lincoln, UK
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

anonymous wrote:
corenominal wrote:

I included them because I find that addressing my machines by their hostname on my local network is quite handy

Have you tried using the HOSTS file for that?

Yes, but by using Avahi there is no need for it, I can simply connect using a command like so:

ssh gonzo.local

I find this really handy as all machines on the LAN, apart from my server, are issued dynamic IP addresses and Avahi removes the hassle of trying to manage these manually.

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  • Registered: 2010-03-26
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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

Thank you for you reply and short line of code, corenominal.  I don't have or need what you envisioned this to be used for [and was concerned about running processes consuming resources] however I'll bet there's a-hundrend-and eleventy-three people scattered across Europe that were saying:  cool! when they initially saw it. 

Just for curiosity: was I correct in comparing it to an ad-hoc network, or not?  In the past I've deleted what I thought were unnecessary packages until I was left with a brown or a green or a blue unworkable distribution.  A netinstall built from the ground up works best but I'm running my own thread a bit OT!  wink  Thanks, again.

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Re: [SOLVED] Do I Really Need Avahi Daemon? If Not....

winotree wrote:

Just for curiosity: was I correct in comparing it to an ad-hoc network, or not?

No, at least that is not my understanding of it. As I understand it, it just facilitates the easy discovery of devices attached to your local network. There is no network mesh or ad hoc networking taking place.

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