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+# Related Work
+
+This document describes related protocols and implementations for IPC with file
+descriptor passing.
+
+## systemd's Varlink with FD Passing
+
+systemd has implemented file descriptor passing as an extension to the
+[varlink](https://varlink.org/) protocol. This is relevant prior art for
+jsonrpc-fdpass.
+
+### Not Part of the Varlink Standard
+
+The official varlink specification at varlink.org does **not** include fd
+passing. The spec defines a simple JSON-based RPC protocol over Unix sockets
+(or TCP), with messages terminated by NUL bytes. FD passing is a
+**systemd-specific extension**.
+
+This means other varlink implementations (Rust, Go, Python, etc.) do not
+support fd passing out of the box.
+
+### Public API
+
+systemd provides fd passing through its `sd-varlink` API in libsystemd:
+
+```c
+// Push fds to send with the next message
+int sd_varlink_push_fd(sd_varlink *v, int fd);      // Returns index (0, 1, 2...)
+int sd_varlink_push_dup_fd(sd_varlink *v, int fd);  // Dups the fd first
+int sd_varlink_reset_fds(sd_varlink *v);            // Clear pending fds
+
+// Retrieve fds from the current message
+int sd_varlink_peek_fd(sd_varlink *v, size_t i);    // Borrow fd at index
+int sd_varlink_take_fd(sd_varlink *v, size_t i);    // Take ownership of fd
+int sd_varlink_get_n_fds(sd_varlink *v);            // Count of fds
+
+// Server flags to enable fd passing
+SD_VARLINK_SERVER_ALLOW_FD_PASSING_INPUT   // Allow receiving fds
+SD_VARLINK_SERVER_ALLOW_FD_PASSING_OUTPUT  // Allow sending fds
+```
+
+### Wire Protocol
+
+systemd uses `SCM_RIGHTS` via `sendmsg()`/`recvmsg()` to pass file descriptors
+alongside JSON message bytes. The implementation is in
+`src/libsystemd/sd-varlink/sd-varlink.c`.
+
+FDs are associated with messages using a queue structure (`VarlinkJsonQueueItem`)
+that binds each JSON message to its accompanying fds, preserving message
+boundaries.
+
+### JSON Index References
+
+Within JSON messages, fds are referenced by **index** rather than fd number:
+
+```json
+{
+  "mountFileDescriptor": 0,
+  "designator": "root",
+  "writable": true
+}
+```
+
+The sender calls `sd_varlink_push_fd()` which returns an index (0, 1, 2, ...),
+and that index is included in the JSON. The receiver uses
+`sd_varlink_take_fd(link, 0)` to retrieve the actual fd.
+
+### Production Usage
+
+systemd uses varlink fd passing in several services:
+
+| Service | Use Case |
+|---------|----------|
+| **mountfsd** | Passing `fsmount` fds for disk image mounts |
+| **nsresourced** | Passing TAP interface fds for network namespaces |
+| **machined** | Passing PTY fds for container shell access |
+| **networkd** | Network configuration fds |
+| **logind** | Session-related fds |
+| **bootctl** | Boot loader installation |
+
+### Comparison with jsonrpc-fdpass
+
+| Aspect | systemd varlink | jsonrpc-fdpass |
+|--------|-----------------|----------------|
+| FD count field | Index references in params | Top-level `fds` count |
+| Base protocol | varlink (custom) | JSON-RPC 2.0 |
+| Specification | Extension to existing protocol | Standalone spec |
+| Implementation | C (libsystemd) | Rust |
+| Batching | Not specified | Explicit whitespace batching |
+
+Key differences:
+
+1. **FD indication**: jsonrpc-fdpass uses a top-level `"fds": N` field to
+   indicate how many fds accompany a message. systemd's approach embeds fd
+   indices directly in parameters (e.g., `"mountFileDescriptor": 0`).
+
+2. **Batching**: jsonrpc-fdpass explicitly specifies how to batch fds across
+   multiple `sendmsg()` calls using whitespace bytes. systemd doesn't appear
+   to have a formal batching mechanism in its spec.
+
+3. **Language support**: jsonrpc-fdpass provides a Rust implementation;
+   systemd's is C-only and tightly integrated with libsystemd.
+
+## containerd ttrpc
+
+[ttrpc](https://github.com/containerd/ttrpc) is containerd's lightweight RPC
+protocol, an alternative to gRPC for local IPC. There has been work to add fd
+passing support:
+
+- [containerd/ttrpc#75](https://github.com/containerd/ttrpc/pull/75) - PR
+  exploring fd passing
+
+ttrpc uses protobuf for message encoding rather than JSON.
+
+## D-Bus
+
+D-Bus supports fd passing via `UNIX_FD` type in its type system. This is a
+well-established protocol but is more complex than JSON-RPC or varlink, with
+its own binary wire format and elaborate type system.
+
+## See Also
+
+- [varlink.org](https://varlink.org/) - Official varlink specification
+- [systemd sd-varlink](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/latest/sd-varlink.html) - systemd's varlink API
+- Discussion that motivated this research: [containers/buildah#6675](https://github.com/containers/buildah/pull/6675)