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Ask HN: mDNS Locked Down on Macs?

by techn00 on 3/24/25, 6:52 PM with 1 comments

I was using a cool tool called localias, which allows you to set `.local` domains with https for services running on your mac. It's really helpful to be able to access the services on your network at the same address (especially for mobile dev). Example:

localias add frontend.local 5173 # you can now access https://frontend.local and it will resolve to your local service listening on 5173.

But it seems like apple locked down the mdns capability behind a paywall? https://github.com/peterldowns/localias/issues/40#issuecomment-2630197849

https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/663271

Any workaround/alternatives?

by skygazer on 3/24/25, 11:08 PM
I agree, preventing devs from even testing features on their own boxes without Apple's permission is excessive gatekeeping. Open source users should be able to grant permission on their own machines. This is a user hostile bandaid around a broken security model.
Although, it's not strictly a paywall, because you can pay for the developer program and still not be granted an entitlement -- although, I guess it's a paywall to be granted access to even ask for an entitlement, which does seem worse.