diff --git a/rib/service.hpp b/rib/service.hpp
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+/* -*- Mode:C++; c-file-style:"gnu"; indent-tabs-mode:nil; -*- */
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2014-2016,  Regents of the University of California,
+ *                           Arizona Board of Regents,
+ *                           Colorado State University,
+ *                           University Pierre & Marie Curie, Sorbonne University,
+ *                           Washington University in St. Louis,
+ *                           Beijing Institute of Technology,
+ *                           The University of Memphis.
+ *
+ * This file is part of NFD (Named Data Networking Forwarding Daemon).
+ * See AUTHORS.md for complete list of NFD authors and contributors.
+ *
+ * NFD is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms
+ * of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation,
+ * either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * NFD is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
+ * without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
+ * PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+ * NFD, e.g., in COPYING.md file.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+#ifndef NFD_RIB_SERVICE_HPP
+#define NFD_RIB_SERVICE_HPP
+
+#include "common.hpp"
+#include "core/config-file.hpp"
+
+#include <ndn-cxx/face.hpp>
+#include <ndn-cxx/security/key-chain.hpp>
+#include <ndn-cxx/transport/transport.hpp>
+#include <ndn-cxx/mgmt/dispatcher.hpp>
+
+namespace nfd {
+namespace rib {
+
+class RibManager;
+
+/**
+ * \brief initializes and executes NFD-RIB service thread
+ */
+class Service : noncopyable
+{
+public:
+  class Error : public std::runtime_error
+  {
+  public:
+    explicit
+    Error(const std::string& what)
+      : std::runtime_error(what)
+    {
+    }
+  };
+
+  /**
+   * \brief create NFD-RIB service
+   * \param configFile absolute or relative path of configuration file
+   * \param keyChain the KeyChain
+   */
+  Service(const std::string& configFile, ndn::KeyChain& keyChain);
+
+  /**
+   * \brief create NFD-RIB service
+   * \param config parsed configuration section
+   * \param keyChain the KeyChain
+   * \note This constructor overload is more appropriate for integrated environments,
+   *       such as NS-3 or android. Error messages related to configuration file
+   *       will use "internal://nfd.conf" as configuration filename.
+   */
+  Service(const ConfigSection& config, ndn::KeyChain& keyChain);
+
+  /**
+   * \brief Destructor
+   */
+  ~Service();
+
+  /**
+   * \brief Perform initialization of NFD-RIB instance
+   *
+   * After initialization, NFD-RIB instance can be started by running the global io_service
+   */
+  void
+  initialize();
+
+private:
+  void
+  initializeLogging();
+
+  /**
+   * \brief Look into the config file and construct appropriate transport to communicate with NFD
+   * If NFD-RIB instance was initialized with config file, INFO format is assumed
+   */
+  shared_ptr<ndn::Transport>
+  getLocalNfdTransport();
+
+private:
+  std::string m_configFile;
+  ConfigSection m_configSection;
+
+  ndn::KeyChain& m_keyChain;
+  unique_ptr<ndn::Face> m_face;
+  unique_ptr<ndn::mgmt::Dispatcher> m_dispatcher;
+  unique_ptr<RibManager> m_ribManager;
+};
+
+} // namespace rib
+} // namespace nfd
+
+#endif // NFD_RIB_SERVICE_HPP