Hello, documentation recommends using `<http://0.0.0.0:8080>`, but after starting the server, this a...

# server

[Nino]

Hello, documentation recommends using <http://0.0.0.0:8080>, but after starting the server, this address doesn't work. <http://localhost:8080> works, tho. Why is it so ?

[Larry Meadors]

i believe that 0.0.0.0 means to bind to all addresses on the machine - so localhost and 127.0.0.1, etc...

[Larry Meadors]

it is not a valid address

[christophsturm]

you can only listen on 0.0.0.0 not connect to it

[ephemient]

connecting to 0.0.0.0 does work on some operating systems, such as Linux

[ephemient]

that's not standard across other OSes, but binding to 0.0.0.0 and listening is definitely a standard feature

[christophsturm]

what do you connect to when you connect to 0.0.0.0? any random interface?

[Larry Meadors]

yeah, 0.0.0.0 is a non-routable address, so connecting to it is kinda...janky

[ephemient]

in practice, you get "any local address" when connecting to 0.0.0.0, same as when binding. it's definitely not something you should rely on to be portable, though

[Larry Meadors]

yeah, you said that better than me: it might work..but relying on it to is a Bad Idea (tm) 🙂

[ephemient]

if you only care about Linux then rely away 😛