This is c-ares, a forked version of the original ares. The original ares README follows below, the c-ares specific details are in README.cares ==================================================================== This is ares, an asynchronous resolver library. It is intended for applications which need to perform DNS queries without blocking, or need to perform multiple DNS queries in parallel. The primary examples of such applications are servers which communicate with multiple clients and programs with graphical user interfaces. This library implementation is not especially portable to crufty old systems like SunOS 4. It assumes a compiler which can handle ANSI C syntax, a system malloc which properly handles realloc(NULL, foo) and free(NULL), and a reasonably up-to-date . I have attempted to preserve the externally visible behavior of the BIND resolver in nearly all respects. The API of the library is, of course, very different from the synchronous BIND API; instead of invoking a function like res_send() and getting a return value back indicating the number of bytes in the response, you invoke a function like ares_send() and give it a callback function to invoke when the response arrives. You then have to select() on the file descriptors indicated by ares_fds(), with a timeout given by ares_timeout(). You call ares_process() when select() returns. Some features are missing from the current version of ares, relative to the BIND resolver: * There is no IPV6 support. * There is no hostname verification. * There is no logging of unexpected events. * There is no debugging-oriented logging. * There is no YP support. libares requires an ANSI compiler to compile and use. To build the library, just run "./configure" and "make". To install it, run "make install". Run "./configure --help" to see a list of options you can provide to configure to change how the library builds. libares has no data files, so you can move the include file and library around freely without leaving behind any dependencies on old paths. Building the library will also build the "adig" program, a little toy for trying out the library. It doesn't get installed. libares is distributed at athena-dist.mit.edu:pub/ATHENA/ares. Please send bug reports and comments to ghudson@mit.edu.