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+DJBDNS Stub Resolver
+====================
+
+Simple DJBDNS stub-resolver based on 'djbdns-1.05(IPv6)' allowing for each
+calling application individually to include up to 16 DNSCACHEIP(s)
+as DNS forwarding/resolving servers to be tried sequentially.
+
+IP Addresses
+------------
+
+Here,
+ - global IPv6,
+ - IPv6 ULA, and
+ - IPv6 LLU addresses with a given Interface-Id
+can be specified. The IPv4 format could be either a
+ - legacy dotted-decimal or a
+ - IPv4-mapped IPv6 address.
+
+In any case, compactified IPv6 addresses are understood.
+IPv4/IPv6 addresses in brackets are understood by dns_ip.
+
+Resolver Call
+-------------
+
+If $DNSCACHEIP is not provided as environment variable, the stub-resolver
+will use the system-wide
+ - /etc/resolv.conf
+file; however now without the capability for IPv6 LLU addresses.
+While IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses are supported here by default as well,
+care has to taken not to jeopardize other client's usage.
+
+Name Qualification
+------------------
+
+If provided, the stub-resolver uses either a system-wide configuration file
+ - /etc/dnsrewritefile or assumes this file to available as given in
+ - $DNSREWRITEFILE
+in order to define persistent mapping-rules of local domain names to public
+ones (for lookup) or IP addresses (for direct matching).
+
+Well-known domain names 'localhost', 'ip4-loopback' and 'ip6-loopback'
+are handled locally, thus no DNS query is used (RFC 6761).
+'localhost' is advertised as '::1' and '::ff:127.0.0.1' in it's native
+IPv6 format. It is up to the caller to convert the IPv6-mapped IPv4
+address to the IPv4 format.
+
+Local domain names can be alternatively specified (per application) using
+the environment variable
+ - $LOCALDOMAIN
+to be appended to unqualified hostnames dynamically. This is roughly equivalent
+with the 'search' string in /etc/resolv. Several domains names may be
+specified within $LOCALDOMAIN separated by blanks.
+
+See: https://cr.yp.to/djbdns/qualify.html
+
+
+Specific DNS Record type lookup
+-------------------------------
+
+* dns_ip (A, AAAAA)
+* dns_name (PTR)
+* dns_cname (CNAME)
+* dns_txt (TXT) -- now considering several 'labels'
+* dns_mx (MX)
+
+
+Internals
+---------
+
+* UDP message size:
+Unlike other implementations, this DNS stub-resolver supports UDP packet
+sizes up to 1028 byte without the need for (E)DNS0 packet enhancements.
+
+* DNS UDP query retrials:
+In case the NS is not able to initally reply to the query,
+it is retried again at the intervalls {1, 2, 4, 8, 16} secs.
+
+* DNS name qualification (dns_ip_qualify):
+Well-known domain names are qualified locally without invoking a DNS query
+while handling IPv4 and IPv6 addresses separately.
+
+* NS qualification/sorting for NS replies:
+NS qualification is not supported (yet), thus we use a randomly sorted
+list of NS IP addresses.
+
+* Query/Reply to/from DNS Cache servers/forwarders:
+Neither message (CurveDNS) nor transport layer (TLS) encryption is provided;
+the sub-resolver 'trusts' it's upstream caches/forwarders. We recommend to
+setup communication on private IPv4/IPv6 addresses; if applicable.
+
+* DNS TXT Records:
+The label substructure is now recognized in the RDATA section;
+each label may have the size of 255 byte.
+The length information is excluded from the output.
+Only printable characters are recognized in the output.
+
+* Return Codes:
+Different from DJB's initial routines, the DNS front-end routines
+ dns_cname*, dns_ip*, dns_mx*, dns_name*, dns dns_txt*
+return now the number of replies received (not bytes!).
+Thus, three cases need to be considered:
+
+ - rc < 0: Problem occured (SOFTFAIL, HARDFAIL)
+ - rc = 0: No answer obtained (but query was successful) = NXDOMAIN
+ - rc > 0: rc answers received; positive reply
+
+For return codes < 0, the following conventions have been applied:
+
+ include/dnsresolv.h
+
+\#define DNS_NXD 0
+\#define DNS_MEM -1
+\#define DNS_ERR -2 /* parsing errors and others */
+\#define DNS_COM -3 /* (socket) communication errors */
+\#define DNS_INT -4 /* internal errors */
+\#define DNS_SOFT -5 /* either -2 or -3 */
+\#define DNS_HARD -6 /* CNAME loop problem */
+
+The modification of the return code is typically not problematic,
+since mostly just rc = -1 is checked.
+
+In the future, these return codes are subject of change.
+Thus, instead of
+
+ if (dns_XX(...) == -1)
+
+one shoud use the more general syntax
+
+ if (dns_XX(...) < 0)
+
+to check for 'negative' results, allowing further actions
+and refinements given the calling sequence.
+
+
+
+Environment Variables Read
+--------------------------
+
+$DNSCACHEPIP The upstream resolver's IP[v4|v6] addresses (up to 32).
+ IPv6 LLU addresses may be suffixed with the interface name.
+$DNSREWRITEFILE Alternate location for the system-wide
+ /etc/dnsrewrite
+file
+$LOCALDOMAIN Additional local domain name appended to unqualified
+ hostnames dynamically.
+
+Sample for the file /etc/dnsrewrite:
+
+\#annything.local -> me
+\-.example.com:me
+\# me -> 127.0.0.1
+\=me:127.0.0.1
+\# any.name.a -> any.name.af.mil
+\*.a:.af.mil
+\# any-name-without-dots -> any-name-without-dots.heaven.af.mil
+\?:.heaven.af.mil
+\# remove trailing dot
+\*.:
+
+and DJB's explanations are given here:
+
+Instructions are followed in order, each at most once. There are four types of instructions:
+
+\=post:new means that the host name post is replaced by new.
+\*post:new means that any name of the form prepost is replaced by prenew.
+\?post:new means that any name of the form prepost, where pre does not contain dots or brackets, is replaced by prenew.
+\-post:new means that any name of the form prepost is replaced by new.
+
+Erwin Hoffmann, June 2023.