zeroconf_lookup is a browser extension for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome / Chromium.
It consists of two parts:
- The so called native host needs to be installed by the user with operating system specific procedures. It consists of just one executable and an optional config file.
- The browser extension is available through the appropriate app store. To find it, just search for zeroconf.
- This file provides instructions for installing the native host executable in various environments including the browser manifest.
- The browser extension locates the native host by means of the aforementioned browser manifest.
The first step is cloning (or updating) this GitHub repository, unless you are using Homebrew, RPM or the like (then just see below).
git clone https://github.com/railduino/zeroconf-lookup.git
In the unlikely event that you don't have git installed, you can of course download an archive and unpack it.
The download link for the latest ZIP archive is https://github.com/railduino/zeroconf-lookup/archive/master.zip
Anyway, cd into the zeroconf_lookup directory. Well, and from here on it gets operating system specific.
After compiling the zeroconf_lookup executable (no matter where and how) it is good practice to check that it works.
The first test therefore is running zeroconf_lookup -h in the current directory (usually prefixed with ./ under Linux or OS X / macOS).
It will print a usage information and exit.
If that works, try running zeroconf_lookup -r which will collect data the same way as in production mode,
but write the JSON data on standard output in human readable form (i.e. without the binary length upfront).
This must work - otherwise it is useless to continue. Please use the GitHub Issue Tracker and I will try to help.
Then you can install the executable and the browser manifest files as described below. Again check that the setup is working.
The Windows version is a Go program, so you should have go installed. The minimum version is 1.6 since we are using context.
If you don't want to install Go or are not able to do so, you can find a compiled zeroconf_lookup.exe executable in the Windows_Go subdirectory.
It was compiled with the standard (64 bit) Go compiler version 1.9.3 using the included make batch file.
If you haven't installed Go yet, you can find instructions for installing it at https://golang.org/doc/install
Don't forget to add the GOPATH and GOROOT environment variables and add go to your PATH
There is a make.bat file in the Windows_Go subdirectory, so please change into this subdirectory.
zeroconf_lookup depends on some external libraries, so please run make update to install or update them first. It may take a while.
Then run make to build the program. Remember, this is not a Makefile but just the make.bat batch file.
The resulting executable is self contained and there is just one step left:
creating the Windows Registry keys for finding the browser manifest files.
To this end, run zeroconf_lookup.exe -i which will create the appropriate manifest files and registry keys.
After doing that, you may not move the executable anywhere else (or if you do, run the command again).
Running zeroconf_lookup.exe -u will remove the registry keys again.
When running the zeroconf_lookup.exe executable for the first time on my Windows 10 computer,
I had to allow the networking in the Windows Defender Firewall - you may also have to register with your firewall.
That's it - you should be all set up now and the extension should work.
Hint: A NullSoft or WiX installer are probably not worth the while, we have just one executable and two manifest files (which can reside anywhere) plus two registry keys created by the said executable.
Hint: I am an Apple Newbie and my only device is a Mac Mini (early 2011) running El Capitan (I cannot upgrade to macOS right now).
The common setup is to install the executable (zeroconf_lookup) either at /usr/local/bin or any location writable by the current user.
In any case the browser manifest must be installed in a well-known location with a reference to the executable.
This is done by calling zeroconf_lookup -i
There are two flavors of the executable - one written in C and one in Go. You may want to check out both and keep the one you like more :-) The advantage of the C version is that returns immediately. The Go version collects data and waits at least one second before returning.
This is the most basic variant, you will only need tar, cc and make.
- Change into the Apple_C subdirectory:
cd Apple_C
- Extract the tar archive, replacing the current version number:
tar xvzf zeroconf_lookup-2.2.0.tgz
- Change into the extracted subdirectory (again, replace version if necessary):
cd zeroconf_lookup-2.2.0
- Compile the executable (a simple
makeshould do the trick):make
- Assuming there are no errors (and we are very strict), you can install the executable):
make installorsudo make install(which ever you need)
You should have an executable now and can continue with installing the browser manifest
Essentially, this is just the same procedure as before, but is preferrable
if you have CMake (duh!) and the mDNSResponder libraries and headers are not in obvious locations.
The CMakeLists.txt and cmake/Modules will search for the files and link appropriately.
- Change into the Apple_C subdirectory:
cd Apple_C
- Run the CMake setup and install the executable:
make installorsudo make install(which ever you need)
You should have an executable now and can continue with installing the browser manifest
This flavor is probably only interesting if you want to make changes or if you are used to do all your programming using XCode.
- Change into the Apple_C subdirectory:
cd Apple_C
- Run the CMake setup generating XCode project files:
make xcode
- Call XCode in the usual way (assuming you know what this means :-) and switch to the
_buildsubdirectory.???
You should be able to generate an executable now and can continue with installing the browser manifest
coming soon (still learning how to brew)
Note: I saw this line in the Homebrew Acceptable Formulae docs: "We frown on authors submitting their own work unless it is very popular." I guess this means I am not allowed to submit my own work here. Perhaps I need to wait until it gets popular :-)
coming soon (the code is already in Apple_Go - apart from the manifest locations, it is identical to the Windows version)
Assuming the zeroconf_lookup executable is in your PATH now, you can install the browser manifest with just calling zeroconf_lookup -i.
You may do this as a non-root user, in which case the manifests will be written to the following locations (replace Admin with your name):
/Users/Admin/Library/Application Support/Mozilla/NativeMessagingHosts/com.railduino.zeroconf_lookup.json/Users/Admin/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/com.railduino.zeroconf_lookup.json/Users/Admin/Library/Application Support/Chromium/NativeMessagingHosts/com.railduino.zeroconf_lookup.json
You may also run this as root, in which case the locations will be:
/Library/Application Support/Mozilla/NativeMessagingHosts/com.railduino.zeroconf_lookup.json/Library/Google/Chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/com.railduino.zeroconf_lookup.json/Library/Application Support/Chromium/NativeMessagingHosts/com.railduino.zeroconf_lookup.json
Please use only one method (you can remove the manifests with [sudo] zeroconf_lookup -u)
That's it - you should be all set up now and the extension should work.
As with OS X / macOS, there are two versions of the program, one written in C and one in Go.
All Linux systems I have access to are running the Avahi daemon for service discovery. This includes Ubuntu (16.04 LTS), CentOS (7.4) and a Raspberry Pi 3 (Raspbian Stretch). Others should compile and work, too.
There is a GNU AutoTools compatible build pipeline with ./configure, make and sudo make install.
Only compatible - it requires that the avahi-client and avahi-common libraries are in the linker path.
More to follow - including the generation of DEB and RPM packages through the Ruby based FPM program.