these do work

src/libauthsrv/authdial.c

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#include <u.h>
+#include <libc.h>
+#include <authsrv.h>
+#include <bio.h>
+#include <ndb.h>
+
+int
+authdial(char *netroot, char *dom)
+{
+	char *p;
+	int rv;
+	
+	if(dom != nil){
+		/* look up an auth server in an authentication domain */
+		p = csgetvalue(netroot, "authdom", dom, "auth", nil);
+
+		/* if that didn't work, just try the IP domain */
+		if(p == nil)
+			p = csgetvalue(netroot, "dom", dom, "auth", nil);
+		if(p == nil){
+			werrstr("no auth server found for %s", dom);
+			return -1;
+		}
+		rv = dial(netmkaddr(p, netroot, "ticket"), 0, 0, 0);
+		free(p);
+		return rv;
+	} else {
+		/* look for one relative to my machine */
+		return dial(netmkaddr("$auth", netroot, "ticket"), 0, 0, 0);
+	}
+}