PIM IPv4 user-level process

[Pavlin Radoslavov]

[Note: I am not on the freebsd-net mailing list, so I am answering
 some of the questions after the thread was brought to my attention]

* Regarding existing PIM IPv4 user-level implementations.
  The only IPv4 PIM implementations for UNIX I am aware of are:
  a) Commersial:
    - NextHop (http://www.nexthop.com/)
    - IP Infusion (http://www.ipinfusion.com)

  b) Non-commersial:
    - pimd from USC (PIM-SM only):
      http://netweb.usc.edu/pim/
    - pimdd from U of Oregon (PIM-DM only):
      http://www.antc.uoregon.edu/PIMDM/pimd-dense.html
    - XORP (PIM-SM only)
      http:/www.xorp.org/

      Personally, I have been involved with the first and third
      implementations (pimd and XORP), and between them I will
      definitely recommend XORP. There are just too many issues with
      pimd (incomplete and obsolete implementation, very limited
      testing, just to name few), so even though currently XORP is
      still officially in alpha stage, the XORP PIM-SM module is (in
      my biased opinion :) definitely better and more robust
      compared to pimd. In fact, pimd is already on the retiring
      track.

* Regarding running XORP PIM-SM itself.
  - FreeBSD is our primary development platform, so "porting" XORP
    to FreeBSD should be a no-op (except writing the packaging files
    for the ports collection of course). If there is a compilation
    error, then please send a bug report.
  - You have to compile almost everything, because the PIM-SM binary
    depends on a number of internal libraries.
  - You can run PIM-SM stand-alone without the rest of the XORP
    components. Just read pim/README and/or send me an email for
    details.


Pavlin