avahi-autoipd implements IPv4LL, "Dynamic Configuration of IPv4 Link-Local Addresses" (IETF RFC3927), a protocol for automatic IP address configuration from the link-local 169.254.0.0/16 range without the need for a central server. It is primarily intended to be used in ad-hoc networks which lack a DHCP server.
IPv4LL is part of the Zeroconf stack.
avahi-autoipd can be used as stand-alone address allocator or as plugin for a DHCP client such as ISC's dhclient, where it can be used as fallback solution if no DHCP server is found.
To allow communication between hosts that have only an IPv4LL address assigned and hosts that only have a routable IP address assigned you may add the following routes to both network configurations:
See http://developer.apple.com/qa/qa2004/qa1357.html for more information.
The Avahi Developers <@PACKAGE_BUGREPORT@>; Avahi is
available from
http://avahi.org/wiki/AvahiAutoipd documents how avahi-autoipd is best packaged and integrated into distributions.
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