[zeromq-dev] Using zmq over network without zmq_server

[Martin Sustrik]

Hi Ville

> We have a server in a known location with a global exchange. We would like to
> access the server without having to use zmq_server. Now, if we were using the
> C++ API we could use dummy_locator_t[1] and be done with it, but we are using
> the C API, and we'd rather not maintain a private fork of libczmq.
> 
> So, is there any plans to include dummy_locator_t or something like that to the
> mainline, and to expose it via the C API?
> 
> As a concrete example of what I mean, I've attached a patch for libczmq
> that we've been playing around with. The patch is against 0.6.1 and is
> released under MIT license.

What we are working on at the moment is an alternate API to access 0MQ 
functionality. Specifically, it's API using "socket" metaphor rather 
than "exchange/queue" metaphor. One of the consequences is that you are 
using concrete addresses of network nodes rather than symbolic names:

void *context = zs_init (1, 1);

void *s = zs_socket (context, ZS_PUBLISHER);
zs_connect ("192.168.0.115:5555", NULL);

zs_msg msg;
zs_msg_init_size (&msg, 10);
memset (zs_msg_data (&msg), 0, 10);

zs_send (s, &msg);

...

Have a look at the the API definition here:

http://svn.fastmq.org/svn/zsock/trunk/include/zsockets.h

Any comments and/or suggestions are welcome.

Martin