---
name: "mdnsd"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "mdnsd"
version: "0.12-5"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mdnsd"
---

# mdnsd(8)

small multicast DNS daemon

## NAME

**mdnsd** – small multicast DNS daemon

## SYNOPSIS

**mdnsd** \[**-hnsv**\] \[**-i** *IFACE*\] \[**-l** *LEVEL*\] \[**-t** *TTL*\] \[*PATH*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**mdnsd** is a small mDNS-SD daemon for UNIX like systems.  It is based on an original implementation made by Jeremie Miller in 2003.  Multicast DNS with service discovery (-SD) is an open standard defined in RFC5762, mDNS-SD in RFC6763, commonly known to end-users as Bonjour or Avahi, depending on the operating system.

**mdnsd** reads service definitions of services to announce from */etc/mdns.d/\*.service*, a different path may be given on the command line, which can be a directory or a single service file.

**mdnsd** by default runs on all multicast capable interfaces on a system.  Use **-i** *IFACE* to only run on a single interface.

## OPTIONS

This program follows the usual UNIX command line syntax. The options are as follows:

- **-h**

  Print a help message and exit.

- **-i** *IFACE*

  Interface to announce services on.  By default **mdnsd** runs on all interfaces.

  Only available on Linux.

- **-l** *LEVEL*

  Set log level: none, err, notice (default), info, debug.

- **-n**

  Run in foreground, do not detach from controlling terminal.

- **-s**

  Use syslog even if running in foreground.

- **-t** *TTL*

  Set TTL of mDNS packets, default: 1 (link-local only).

- **-v**

  Show program version.

## FILES

- */etc/mdns.d/\*.service*

  mDNS-SD services to announce.

## SEE ALSO

[mquery(1)](/mquery/1.md), [mdnsd.service(5)](/mdnsd.service/5.md), [mdns-scan(1)](/mdns-scan/1.md)

## AUTHORS

This mDNS-SD implementation was created in 2003 by Jeremie Miller ⟨jer@jabber.org⟩. Much later, in 2016, it was adopted by Joachim Wiberg ⟨troglobit@gmail.com⟩ for further development and maintenance at GitHub: ⟨https://github.com/troglobit/mdnsd⟩.