Do I need any part of Avahi at all?

[Brian]

On Mon 28 Sep 2020 at 11:29:59 -0400, Robert Heller wrote:

> At Mon, 28 Sep 2020 15:50:09 +0100 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > On Mon 28 Sep 2020 at 09:45:48 -0400, Robert Heller wrote:
> > 
> > > At Mon, 28 Sep 2020 08:40:20 -0400 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
> > > 
> > > > 
> > > > one person's anecdote:
> > > > 
> > > > I've been running that way for years... removing avahi whenever it showed
> > > > up. It's a different (supposedly easier/self/autoconfiguring) way of doing
> > > > the same thing, but if you're handy with dns and dhcp, then there is very
> > > > little value in avahi.
> > > 
> > > Avahi is an "Apple" thing that is meant to auto-discover things on your
> > > network and auto-configure them. This *might* be a good idea for people who
> > > are totally clueless and are randomly plugin in printers, scanners, computers,
> > > and such into their home network. I guess it *sometimes* works ok. It can be a
> > > royal pain in the arse if you have a well organized LAN (eg you have a DHCP
> > > server configured to give "static" IP addresses to your networked devices) and
> > > a DNS server (eg Bind9) that provides host names for all of your network
> > > devices. Avahi will *probable* provide confusing (not always correct)
> > > configurations. That is, if you have a networked printer that you have
> > > carefully configured on your LAN, Avahi will procede to auto-configure it
> > > *again*, not necessarily the wayv*you* want it configured, likely as not
> > > creating an additional printer queue, so you might suddenly have two print
> > > queues on your wife's laptop: HomeOfficePrinter (that you configured) and
> > > LP12847585 (showing up "randomly" and confusing your wife). This sort of
> > > nonsense kept happening at the local library where I manage a network of
> > > Ubuntu workstations, until I did an apt-get purge \*avahi\*...
> > 
> > Some users might classify this as a totally clueless analysis of the
> > situation :). Avahi does not auto-configure printers.
> 
> Maybe Avahi + CUPS or some CUPS+Avahi deamon.

No, it's not that that auto-configures printers. Have another guess!

>                                               I don't remember exactly, but a
> "strangely" named printer would show up from time to time. It might also have
> been something in Gnome (2 at the time) in FireFox. Whatever. It was with
> Ubuntu 14.04 and it was causing confusion by providing an additional
> (misconfigured!) printer that patrons at the library were selecting that was
> either hanging the printer by trying to send a PDF file to the (old) HP
> LaserJet in raw mode or else printing a PostScript file as plain text (many
> pages of "gibberish" -- ie PostScript code). Cured by getting rid of the Avahi
> deamons and utilities. There might have a (buggy?) cups+Avahi deamon involved
> as well. Maybe that partitular "feature" has been fixed or removed. I don't
> know. All I know is that Avahi does not always get along with a well-regulated
> LAN. 

Basing advice on what happened with an OS from six years ago seems a
little unwise. Avahi as a *primary* cause of your problems is
unsubstantiated.

>      It appears to be something intended for ad-hoc networks as some sort of
> auto discovery system for people who may not know what they are doing and may
> work ok in some cases, but might not "play nice" with more "traditionally" set
> up LANs.

Avahi is indeed a framework for Multicast DNS Service Discovery but not
aimed specifically at ad-hoc networks. People who know what they are
doing make good use of what Avahi offers. Apple Inc should be praised
for its contribution to networking.

-- 
Brian.