# nanomsg — Socket Library for Scalable Messaging Patterns

> Build distributed systems with a simple C library that provides common messaging patterns like pub/sub, request/reply, and pipeline.

## Install

Save as a script file and run:

# nanomsg — Socket Library for Scalable Messaging Patterns

## Quick Use
```bash
# Install on Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install libnanomsg-dev
# Or build from source
git clone https://github.com/nanomsg/nanomsg.git
cd nanomsg && mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. && make && sudo make install
```

## Introduction
nanomsg is a socket library written in C that provides several common communication patterns for building distributed systems. Created by Martin Sustrik (co-creator of ZeroMQ), it simplifies inter-process and network messaging with a POSIX-like API and built-in scalability protocols.

## What nanomsg Does
- Implements messaging patterns: PAIR, PIPELINE, REQ/REP, PUB/SUB, SURVEY, and BUS
- Works over TCP, IPC (Unix sockets), in-process, and WebSocket transports
- Provides automatic reconnection and load balancing across endpoints
- Handles message framing, routing, and delivery semantics per protocol
- Exposes a simple BSD socket-like C API (nn_socket, nn_send, nn_recv)

## Architecture Overview
nanomsg uses a layered architecture with transports at the bottom (TCP, IPC, inproc, WebSocket) and scalability protocols on top. Each protocol defines its own routing and delivery semantics. The library runs an internal I/O thread pool that manages connections and message queuing asynchronously. The public API is synchronous by default with non-blocking options available via nn_poll or socket options.

## Self-Hosting & Configuration
- Build from source with CMake or install via system package managers
- Link against libnanomsg in your C/C++ project with `-lnanomsg`
- Set socket options for buffer sizes, timeouts, and reconnect intervals via nn_setsockopt
- Bind a socket to listen on an address, or connect to a remote endpoint
- Language bindings exist for Python, Go, Rust, Java, Ruby, Node.js, and more

## Key Features
- Seven built-in scalability protocols covering most messaging patterns
- Transport-agnostic: switch between TCP, IPC, and inproc by changing the address string
- Automatic reconnection on connection loss with configurable retry intervals
- Zero-copy message API for high-throughput scenarios
- Clean C API with no external dependencies beyond the C standard library

## Comparison with Similar Tools
- **ZeroMQ** — more mature ecosystem with more patterns and language bindings; nanomsg offers a cleaner API and pluggable transports
- **nng** — the spiritual successor to nanomsg by the same author, with an async-first API
- **gRPC** — RPC framework with code generation; nanomsg provides raw messaging patterns
- **NATS** — server-based pub/sub; nanomsg is a brokerless peer-to-peer library

## FAQ
**Q:** What is the difference between nanomsg and nng?
A: nng (nanomsg-next-gen) is the successor project with a redesigned async API and better scalability. nanomsg remains stable and widely deployed.

**Q:** Does nanomsg require a message broker?
A: No. nanomsg is fully brokerless. Peers connect directly to each other.

**Q:** Which transport should I use for local IPC?
A: Use `ipc://` for inter-process on the same host or `inproc://` for threads within the same process.

**Q:** What license does nanomsg use?
A: MIT license.

## Sources
- https://github.com/nanomsg/nanomsg
- https://nanomsg.org/

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Author: Script Depot