[zeromq-dev] Using zmq over network without zmq_server

[Martin Sustrik]

Hi Ville,

> On Mon, Jun 08, 2009 at 09:29:37AM +0200, Martin Sustrik wrote:
>> 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:
>>
> [...]
>> Have a look at the the API definition here:
>>
>> http://svn.fastmq.org/svn/zsock/trunk/include/zsockets.h
> 
> The API looks sweet.
> 
> To replace a global data distributing exchange, one would create a
> zsocket on one side and zs_bind() it, have the clients connect
> to it with zs_connect(), and then the data would be distributed to
> all connected clients automagically, right?

Exactly.

> Do you have any estimates on when the zsock is functional enough to
> play with?

If you'll do with basic C/Linux/TCP functionality I would expect 
there'll be something to look at next week or so. Other 
language/OS/protocol bindings will be added later on.

> Oh, how do zsock and zeromq relate to each other? Are they completely
> separate projects or is zsock going to be used in zeromq at some point?

Yes. The idea is to make zeromq a thin wrapper over zsock. The only 
thing that zeromq will add to the functionality is locating the 
components using symbolic names instead of addresses. In short:

zsock + directory service = zeromq

Martin