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--- maradns-1.2.12.05/doc/en/source/faq.embed 2007-02-17 21:48:42.000000000 -0600
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+++ maradns-1.2.12.06/doc/en/source/faq.embed 2007-03-24 16:32:11.000000000 -0600
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32. <A href="#synthns">I am transferring a zone from another
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- server, but the NS records are these strange "synth-ip" records.</A>
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+ server, but the NS records are these strange "synth-ip" records.</A><p>
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-33. <A href="#roothints">Where is the root.hints file?</A>
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+33. <A href="#roothints">Where is the root.hints file?</A><p>
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34. <A href="#autoconf">Are there any plans to use autoconf to build
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35. <A href="#flags">How do I change the compiler or compile-time flags
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- with MaraDNS' build process?</A>
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+ with MaraDNS' build process?</A><p>
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36. <A href="#makepkg">Will you make a package for the particular Linux
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- distribution I am using?</A>
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+ distribution I am using?</A><p>
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+37. <A href="#wincrippled">I am using the native Windows port of MaraDNS,
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+ and some features are not working.</A><p>
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+38. <A href="#startupfail">MaraDNS isn't starting up</A><p>
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+39. <A href="#releases">You make a lot of releases of MaraDNS; at our
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+ ISP/IT department, updating software is non-trivial.</A>
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<H2>1. I'm still using version 1.0 of MaraDNS</H2>
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-MaraDNS 1.0 will continue to be fully supported until December 21, 2007; this
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-means that MaraDNS 1.0 questions will still be answered and bug fixes will
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+MaraDNS 1.0 will continue to be supported until December 21, 2007; this
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+means that MaraDNS 1.0 bug fixes will
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still be applied. After 2007/12/21, MaraDNS 1.0 will no longer be fully
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supported; the only updates, at that point, would be bugtraq-worthy critical
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security fixes. Not even these security updates will be applied after
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<H2>3. What license is MaraDNS released under?</H2>
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-MaraDNS 1.2 is released with the following two-clause BSD license:
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+MaraDNS 1.2 is released with the following two-clause
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-Copyright (c) 2002-2005 Sam Trenholme
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+Copyright (c) 2002-2007 Sam Trenholme
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Please contact me; my email address is at
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-href="http://www.maradns.org/contact.html">http://www.maradns.org/contact.html</A>
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+href="http://www.maradns.org/contact.html">http://www.maradns.org/contact.html</A>.
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+Please be sure to include all information requested there, including
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+the operating system you are using, the version of MaraDNS you are using,
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+your <tt>mararc</tt> configuration file, and all relevant zone files.
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-It is also possible, on MaraDNS 1.2.05 and more recent releases, to
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+It is also possible, with MaraDNS 1.2.05 and more recent releases, to
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use a special "FQDN4" which automatically sets up the reverse
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mapping of a given record:
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a functioning recursive DNS server. There is a reason why MaraDNS, pdnsd, and
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BIND 9 all use the multi-threaded model.
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+<p>I am planning on improving MaraDNS' threaded model to not spawn a thread
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+for each and every uncached request.
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<H2>13. I feel that XXX feature should be added to MaraDNS</H2>
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which have been developed as hobbyist projects (Posadis, Pdnsd, and djbdns)
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are no longer being actively worked on by the primary developer.
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-I plan on someday adding standards-compliant BIND zone file support.
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-After that, I may even add real DNS slave support.
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+My current plans for MaraDNS are visible on the
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+<A href=roadmap.html>roadmap page</A> for MaraDNS.
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MaraDNS community and a strong demand for new features from that community,
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A recursive DNS server is a DNS server that is able to contact other DNS
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servers in order to resolve a given domain name label. This is the kind
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-of DNS server one points to in /etc/resolve.conf
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+of DNS server one points to in <tt>/etc/resolve.conf</tt>
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@@ -467,10 +483,11 @@
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<H2>20. Is MaraDNS portable?</H2>
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-<p>MaraDNS will only compile on FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Cygwin, Linux, and
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-partially on MinGW32 systems. If you are interested in porting MaraDNS
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-to another system, please <A
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-href="http://www.maradns.org/contact.html">let me know</A>.
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+<p>MaraDNS is developed on a CentOS 3 and Windows XP dual boot laptop.
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+MaraDNS may compile or run on other systems--there are official MaraDNS
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+ports for Debian/Ubuntu, Slackware, FreeBSD, and NetBSD. Note that MaraDNS
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+needs a system with a robust threading library, which some systems do not
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@@ -918,14 +935,14 @@
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<A name=makepkg> </A>
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<h2>Will you make a package for the particular Linux
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- distribution I am using?</A>
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+ distribution I am using?</h2>
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No. OK, let me qualify that: I won't do it unless you pay
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There are MaraDNS packages for a number of different distributions of
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-Linux and other operating systems. On there MaraDNS site, there is
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+Linux and other operating systems. On the MaraDNS site, there is
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a MaraDNS package for CentOS/Red Hat Enterprise Linux available. There
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is also usually an up-to-date Slackware package available. In addition,
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there is a Debian package in the Debian packages collection, a FreeBSD
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As an aside, some of the MaraDNS packages floating around on the internet
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are out of date. Please make sure, that if you get a third-party package
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-from the internet, the package is for either MaraDNS 1.0.39, MaraDNS
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-1.2.12.05, or MaraDNS 1.3.03. Older versions of MaraDNS are not
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+from the internet, the package is for either MaraDNS 1.0.40, MaraDNS
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+1.2.12.05, or MaraDNS 1.3.04. Older versions of MaraDNS are not
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+<A name=wincrippled> </A>
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+<h2>I am using the native Windows port of MaraDNS,
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+ and some features are not working.</h2>
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+Since Windows 32 does not have some features that *NIX OSes have, the native
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+Windows port does not have all of the features of the *NIX version of
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+MaraDNS. In particular, the following features are disabled:
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+<li>ipv6 (this is actually a mingw32, not a Windows deficiency)
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+<li>The <tt>chroot_dir</tt> mararc variable
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+<li>The <tt>maradns_gid</tt> and <tt>maradns_uid</tt> mararc variables
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+<li>The <tt>maxprocs</tt> mararc variable
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+<li>The <tt>synth_soa_serial</tt> variable can not have a value of 2
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+If any of the above features are desired, try compiling MaraDNS using
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+Cygwin. Note that the Cygwin port of MaraDNS does not have ipv6 support,
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+and that while <tt>chroot_dir</tt> works in Cygwin, it does not have
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+the security that the *NIX chroot() call has.
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+<A name=startupfail> </A>
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+<h2>MaraDNS isn't starting up</h2>
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+This is usually caused by a syntax error in one's mararc file, or by
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+another MaraDNS process already running. To see what is happening, look
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+at your system log (<tt>/var/log/messages</tt> in Centos 3) to see what
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+errors MaraDNS reports. If you do not know how to look at a system
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+log, you can also invoke MaraDNS from the command line as root; any errors
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+will be visible when starting MaraDNS.
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+<A name=releases> </A>
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+<h2>You make a lot of releases of MaraDNS; at our
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+ ISP/IT department, updating software is non-trivial.</h2>
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+The number of releases seen in the <A href=changelog.html>changelog</A>
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+is not an accurate reflection of how often someone using a stable
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+branch of MaraDNS will need to update.
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+There were only three updates to the 1.0 legacy branch in 2006. The 1.2 branch
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+was updated frequently in the first half of 2006, since I felt MaraDNS 1.2
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+needed some features that didn't make it in to 1.2.00. During this update
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+cycle, there was always a stable bugfix-only branch of MaraDNS.
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+In August of 2006, I stabilized the 1.2 branch and only three updates
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+have been done since then. Unless there is a critical bug, I only update
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+the 1.2 branch approximately once every three months or so.
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+I go to a great deal of effort to make sure MaraDNS releases are as
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+painless to update as possible. I ensure configuration file format
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+compatibility, even between major versions of MaraDNS. With the exception
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+of configuration file parser bugfixes, MaraDNS 1.0 configuration files
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+are compatible with MaraDNS 1.2 and 1.3.
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+It is impossible to make code that is bug-free or without security
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+problems. This is especially true with code that runs on the public
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+internet.<sup><font size=-2>1</font></sup> Code has to be updated from
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+time to time. What I do in order to minimize the disruption caused by an
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+update is to always have a stable bugfix-only branch of MaraDNS (right now I
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+have <i>two</i> bugfix-only branches), and to, as much as possible, evenly
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+space out the bugfix updates.
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+Footnote 1: Even DJB's code has security problems. Both Qmail and DjbDNS
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+have known security problems, and need to be patched before put on a public
added
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update/1.2.12.06/maradns-1.2.12.05-faq.patch
