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| [<img alt height="65" src="docs/named_data_theme/static/ndn-logo.svg"/>](https://named-data.net/) |
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| # NFD: Named Data Networking Forwarding Daemon |
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| </div> |
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| [](https://github.com/named-data/NFD/actions/workflows/ci.yml) |
| [](https://github.com/named-data/NFD/actions/workflows/docs.yml) |
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| ## Overview |
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| NFD is a network forwarder that implements and evolves together with the Named |
| Data Networking (NDN) [protocol](https://docs.named-data.net/NDN-packet-spec/). |
| Since the initial public release in 2014, NFD has been a core component of the |
| [NDN Platform](https://named-data.net/codebase/platform/). |
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| The main design goal of NFD is to support diverse experimentation of NDN technology. The |
| design emphasizes *modularity* and *extensibility* to allow easy experiments with new |
| protocol features, algorithms, new applications. We have not fully optimized the code for |
| performance. The intention is that performance optimizations are one type of experiments |
| that developers can conduct by trying out different data structures and different |
| algorithms; over time, better implementations may emerge within the same design framework. |
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| NFD will keep evolving in three aspects: improvement of the modularity framework, keeping |
| up with the NDN protocol spec, and addition of other new features. We hope to keep the |
| modular framework stable and lean, allowing researchers to implement and experiment with |
| various features, some of which may eventually work into the protocol spec. |
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| ## Documentation |
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| See [`docs/INSTALL.rst`](docs/INSTALL.rst) for compilation and installation instructions. |
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| Extensive documentation is available on NFD's [homepage](https://docs.named-data.net/NFD/). |
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| ## Reporting bugs |
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| Please submit any bug reports or feature requests to the |
| [NFD issue tracker](https://redmine.named-data.net/projects/nfd/issues). |
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| ## Contributing |
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| NFD is developed by a community effort. Although the first release was mostly done by the |
| members of [NSF-sponsored NDN project team](https://named-data.net/project/participants/), |
| it already contains significant contributions from people outside the project team (see |
| [`AUTHORS.md`](AUTHORS.md)). We strongly encourage participation from all interested parties, |
| since broader community support is key for NDN to succeed as a new Internet architecture. |
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| Contributions to NFD are greatly appreciated and can be made through our |
| [Gerrit code review site](https://gerrit.named-data.net/). |
| If you are new to the NDN software community, please read our |
| [Contributor's Guide](https://github.com/named-data/.github/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md) |
| and [`README-dev.md`](README-dev.md) to get started. |
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| ## License |
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| NFD is free software distributed under the GNU General Public License version 3. |
| See [`COPYING.md`](COPYING.md) for details. |