Christophe Pettus: All Your GUCs in a Row: bonjour and bonjour_name
The article discusses two PostgreSQL parameters, bonjour and bonjour_name, which were introduced in 2002 but have limited practical use today. While these parameters allow PostgreSQL servers to advertise themselves on local networks, their application is mostly confined to niche scenarios like conference demos and classroom setups. The author recommends keeping bonjour off for production environments due to security concerns.
- ▪The bonjour parameter enables PostgreSQL to advertise itself on local networks using Apple's Bonjour service-discovery protocol.
- ▪Most distribution packages do not include Bonjour support, limiting its practical use.
- ▪The article suggests that bonjour should be left off in production environments due to security risks.
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2026-05-18 3 min PostgreSQL All Your GUCs in a Row: bonjour and bonjour_name A short post about two parameters that were a charming idea in 2002 and have aged into a curiosity. bonjour, when on, makes the PostgreSQL server advertise itself on the local network via Apple’s Bonjour service-discovery protocol (mDNS/DNS-SD). bonjour_name sets the name under which it advertises, defaulting to the computer’s hostname. Both are postmaster context — change them in postgresql.conf and restart. Both default to off (or empty), and bonjour only does anything if PostgreSQL was compiled with --with-bonjour, which most distribution packages are not. The motivating idea: spin up a PostgreSQL server on the office network and have it discoverable in Finder under Network → Bonjour Services.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Postgr.
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