This is extremely cool: nss-mdns 0.3 finally provides decent client-side support for mdns; for RPM-based distributions, a spec file is available.
In simple terms, this means that you (1) build a package from this, (2) add "mdns4" to the line in /etc/nsswitch.conf that starts with "hosts", and (3) enjoy the .local zone as if you were using a Macintosh.
(Major linux distributions have been shipping with mDNSResponder enabled for some time. That's the server side on the equation, and it made the linux box visible to nearby Macs. A usable client-side implementation was missing so far.)
