Bonjour (software)
Encyclopedia
In computing
Computing
Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...

, Bonjour is Apple Inc.'s trade name
Trade name
A trade name, also known as a trading name or a business name, is the name which a business trades under for commercial purposes, although its registered, legal name, used for contracts and other formal situations, may be another....

 for its implementation of Zeroconf
Zeroconf
Zero configuration networking , is a set of techniques that automatically creates a usable Internet Protocol network without manual operator intervention or special configuration servers....

, a group of technologies that includes service discovery
Service discovery
Service discovery protocols are network protocols which allow automatic detection of devices and services offered by these devices on a computer network....

, address assignment, and name resolution. Bonjour locates devices such as printers, other computers, and the services that those devices offer on a local network
Local area network
A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...

 using multicast
Multicast
In computer networking, multicast is the delivery of a message or information to a group of destination computers simultaneously in a single transmission from the source creating copies automatically in other network elements, such as routers, only when the topology of the network requires...

 Domain Name System
Domain name system
The Domain Name System is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities...

 (mDNS) service records.

The software comes built-in with Apple's Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

 operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

 and iOS for iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...

, iPod touch
IPod touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...

, and iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...

. Bonjour can be installed onto computers running Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 operating systems. Bonjour components may also be included within other software such as iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

.

Bonjour is released under a terms-of-limited-use license by Apple. It is freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...

 for clients, though developers and software companies who wish to redistribute it as part of a software package or use the Bonjour logo may need a licensing agreement.
The source code for mDNSResponder is available under the Apache License
Apache License
The Apache License is a copyfree free software license authored by the Apache Software Foundation . The Apache License requires preservation of the copyright notice and disclaimer....

. After its introduction in 2002 with Mac OS X v10.2
Mac OS X v10.2
Mac OS X version 10.2 "Jaguar" is the third major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It superseded Mac OS X v10.1 code name Puma and preceded Mac OS X Panther...

 as Rendezvous, it was renamed in 2005 to Bonjour because of a trademark issue.

Overview

Bonjour provides a general method to discover services on a local area network
Local area network
A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...

. The software is widely used throughout Mac OS X, and allows users to set up a network without any configuration. it is used to find printers and file-sharing servers. iTunes uses Bonjour to find shared music, iPhoto
IPhoto
iPhoto is a digital photograph manipulation software application developed by Apple Inc. and released with every Macintosh personal computer as part of the iLife suite of digital life management applications...

 to find shared photos, iChat
IChat
iChat is an instant messaging software application developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its Mac OS X operating system. It has audio, video and screen-sharing capabilities as well as text messaging...

, Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...

 Creative Suite 3
Adobe Creative Suite
Adobe Creative Suite is a collection of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications made by Adobe Systems. The collection consists of Adobe's applications , that are based on various technologies...

, Proteus, Adium
Adium
Adium is a free and open source instant messaging client for Mac OS X that supports multiple IM networks, including Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ, and XMPP. It supports many protocols through the libraries libezv , MGTwitterEngine , and libpurple...

, Fire, Pidgin
Pidgin (software)
Pidgin is an open-source multi-platform instant messaging client, based on a library named libpurple. Libpurple has support for many commonly used instant messaging protocols, allowing the user to log into various services from one application.The number of Pidgin users was estimated to be over 3...

, Skype
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...

, Vine Server, and Elgato
Elgato
ElgatoSystems is a hardware and software manufacturer that makes television viewing and recording products specifically for the Macintosh family of personal computers, including EyeTV software...

 EyeTV to share local recordings with multiple clients, the Gizmo5
Gizmo5
Gizmo5 was a Voice over Internet Protocol communications network and a proprietary freeware soft phone for that network. On November 12, 2009, Google announced that it had acquired Gizmo5...

 to find other users on the local network, TiVo
TiVo
TiVo is a digital video recorder developed and marketed by TiVo, Inc. and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "Season Pass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList"...

 Desktop to find digital video recorders and shared-media libraries, SubEthaEdit
SubEthaEdit
SubEthaEdit is a collaborative real-time editor designed for Mac OS X. The name comes from the Sub-Etha communication network in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series....

 and e
E (editor)
E Text Editor is a text editor for Microsoft Windows. Its notable features include a personal revision control system; branched, multi-level, graphical undo; and the ability to run TextMate bundles through the use of Cygwin.A Linux version is planned....

 to find document collaborators, Contactizer
Contactizer
Contactizer Pro is a contact manager, task manager, event manager, communication manager and project manager developed exclusively for Mac OS X, in Cocoa....

 to find and share contacts, tasks, and events information, and Things
Things (application)
Things is a personal task management application for Mac OS X made by Cultured Code, a software startup based in Stuttgart, Germany. Its 1.0 release was on January 6, 2009...

 & OmniFocus
OmniFocus
OmniFocus is a personal task manager by The Omni Group for Mac OS X and iOS. The declared goal of the program is to be able to capture thoughts and ideas into to do lists....

 to synchronize projects and tasks across the Mac desktop and the iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. It is used by Safari
Safari (web browser)
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included with the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7, 2003 on the company's Mac OS X operating system, it became Apple's default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther". Safari is also the...

 to find local web servers and configuration pages for local devices, and by Asterisk
Asterisk PBX
Asterisk is a software implementation of a telephone private branch exchange ; it was created in 1999 by Mark Spencer of Digium. Like any PBX, it allows attached telephones to make calls to one another, and to connect to other telephone services including the public switched telephone network and...

 to advertise telephone services along with configuration parameters to VoIP phones and dialers. Software such as Bonjour Browser or iStumbler
IStumbler
iStumbler is an open source utility for finding wireless networks and devices with AirPort- or Bluetooth-enabled Macintosh computers.iStumbler was originally based on MacStumbler source code...

, both for Mac OS X, or Zeroconf Neighborhood Explorer for Windows, can be used to view all services declared by these applications. Apple's "Remote" application for iPhone and iPod Touch also uses Bonjour to establish connection to iTunes libraries via Wi-Fi.

Bonjour only works within a single broadcast domain
Broadcast domain
A broadcast domain is a logical division of a computer network, in which all nodes can reach each other by broadcast at the data link layer. A broadcast domain can be within the same LAN segment or it can be bridged to other LAN segments....

, which is usually a small area, without special DNS configuration
Computer configuration
In communications or computer systems, a configuration is an arrangement of functional units according to their nature, number, and chief characteristics. Often, configuration pertains to the choice of hardware, software, firmware, and documentation...

. Mac OS X, Bonjour for Windows and AirPort
AirPort
AirPort and AirPort Extreme are local area wireless networking products from Apple Inc. based on the IEEE 802.11 standard ....

 Base Stations may be configured to use Wide Area Bonjour which allows for wide area service discovery via an appropriately configured DNS server.

Applications generally implement Bonjour services using standard TCP/IP calls, rather than in the operating system. Although Mac OS X provides various Bonjour services, Bonjour also works on other operating systems. Apple has made the source code of the Bonjour multicast
Multicast
In computer networking, multicast is the delivery of a message or information to a group of destination computers simultaneously in a single transmission from the source creating copies automatically in other network elements, such as routers, only when the topology of the network requires...

 DNS responder, the core component of service discovery, available as a Darwin
Darwin (operating system)
Darwin is an open source POSIX-compliant computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects....

 open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

 project. The project provides source code to build the responder daemon for a wide range of platforms, including Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apple's Mac OS before the launch of Mac OS X. Introduced on October 23, 1999, Apple positioned it as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever," highlighting Sherlock 2's Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as...

, Mac OS X, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

, *BSD, Solaris, VxWorks
VxWorks
VxWorks is a real-time operating system developed as proprietary software by Wind River Systems of Alameda, California, USA. First released in 1987, VxWorks is designed for use in embedded systems.- History :...

, and Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

. Apple also provides a user-installable set of services called Bonjour for Windows and Java libraries. A number of Windows programs use Zeroconf, including Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...

 Creative Suite 3
Adobe Creative Suite
Adobe Creative Suite is a collection of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications made by Adobe Systems. The collection consists of Adobe's applications , that are based on various technologies...

, iTunes, Cerulean Studios' Trillian Pro 3, Ruckus Music Player from Ruckus Network
Ruckus Network
Ruckus was a free ad-supported online music service available to students at all American colleges.The service was founded in 2003 by Vincent Han and David Galper; raised $41.5M from Battery Ventures, Shelter Capital, and others; was acquired in 2008 by Total Music, a joint venture between Sony and...

, and the text editor e
E (editor)
E Text Editor is a text editor for Microsoft Windows. Its notable features include a personal revision control system; branched, multi-level, graphical undo; and the ability to run TextMate bundles through the use of Cygwin.A Linux version is planned....

.

Microsoft Windows implementation

Bonjour version 2.0, released on February 24, 2010, works with Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, and Windows 7. Systems use it primarily to facilitate the installation, configuration, and use of network printers, and thus it runs from startup. When Bonjour is fully implemented on MS Windows, some features such as iChat allow for communication between the Mac OS and MS Windows. Bonjour for Windows also adds Zeroconf capabilities to Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...

, and provides a Zeroconf implementation to Java VMs.

Bonjour also comes bundled with some third-party applications, such as Adobe
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...

's Photoshop CS3 suite,
to take advantage of Zeroconf technology.

Installers on Windows systems normally place Bonjour files in a folder called "Bonjour" within the "Program Files" folder. It modifies Windows system-registry entries related to internal network configuration and operation. Bonjour runs as mDNSResponder.exe. Communications across the network take place over UDP port 5353, which may require reconfiguring some personal or corporate firewalls that block Bonjour packets. A full installation of Bonjour for Windows will include a plug-in for Internet Explorer, a printer wizard, and the network communication services. Not all components are included when installed as part of a third-party application or as a component of other Apple software such as iTunes.

Some VPN
Virtual private network
A virtual private network is a network that uses primarily public telecommunication infrastructure, such as the Internet, to provide remote offices or traveling users access to a central organizational network....

 clients are configured so that local network services are unavailable to a computer when VPN software is active and connected. In such a case no local Zeroconf services are available to Bonjour or any other Zeroconf implementation.

The open-source IM
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...

 clients Pidgin
Pidgin (software)
Pidgin is an open-source multi-platform instant messaging client, based on a library named libpurple. Libpurple has support for many commonly used instant messaging protocols, allowing the user to log into various services from one application.The number of Pidgin users was estimated to be over 3...

 and Kopete
Kopete
Kopete is a multi-protocol, free software instant messaging client. Although it can run in numerous environments, it was designed for and integrates with the KDE desktop environment...

 support the Bonjour IM protocol, as does the non-GPL Trillian client.

In September 2008, two security vulnerabilities were found in Bonjour for Windows.
Certain installations of Bonjour for Windows lack an uninstaller
Uninstaller
An uninstaller, also called a deinstaller, is a utility software designed to remove other software or parts of it from a computer. It is the opposite of an installer.-Components:...

 and do not display a human-readable entry in the Windows service
Windows Service
On Microsoft Windows operating systems, a Windows service is a long-running executable that performs specific functions and which is designed not to require user intervention. Windows services can be configured to start when the operating system is booted and run in the background as long as...

s listing.

Browsers

A number of browsers allow an end-user to graphically explore the devices found using Bonjour.

Bonjour Browser

Bonjour Browser is a Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...

 licensed Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

 application that displays all services declared using Bonjour. The program was originally called "Rendezvous Browser", but changed its name in version 1.5.4 after Apple
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...

 changed the protocol's name to Bonjour. For certain protocols, double clicking a list item will launch the associated helper. 1.5.6 is the first universal binary
Universal binary
A universal binary is, in Apple parlance, an executable file or application bundle that runs natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64-based Macintosh computers; it is an implementation of the concept more generally known as a fat binary.With the release of Mac OS X Snow...

 version.

Future versions will allow users to completely define a service, instead of relying on the author to do so.

Bonjour Browser was recommended for service discovery
Service discovery
Service discovery protocols are network protocols which allow automatic detection of devices and services offered by these devices on a computer network....

 in MacAddict
MacAddict
Mac|Life is an American monthly magazine published by Future US. It focuses on the Macintosh personal computer and related products, including the iPod and iPhone. Between September 1996 and February 2007, the magazine was known as MacAddict....

#123.

JBonjourBrowser

A student research project at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 produced a Java-based system to match the functionality of Bonjour Browser, called JBonjourBrowser. JBonjourBrowser is open-source and available under the GPL.

JBonjourBrowser was built to emulate the functionality of Bonjour Browser, and at the same time work on multiple platforms. It requires Apple's Bonjour Java library to run.

Bonjour Browser for Windows

A windows project to offer similar functionality to Bonjour Browser for Mac OS as a native Windows application. Bonjour Browser for Windows is offered for free by Hobbyist Software and HandyDev Software

Naming

Apple originally introduced the Bonjour software in August 2002 as part of Mac OS X v10.2
Mac OS X v10.2
Mac OS X version 10.2 "Jaguar" is the third major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It superseded Mac OS X v10.1 code name Puma and preceded Mac OS X Panther...

 under the name "Rendezvous". On August 27, 2003 Tibco Software Inc
TIBCO Software
TIBCO Software Inc. is a provider of infrastructure software for companies to use on-premise or as part of cloud computing environments. TIBCO manages information, decisions, processes and applications in real-time for over 4,000 customers worldwide...

 announced that it had filed a law suit for trademark infringement.
Tibco had an enterprise application integration
Enterprise application integration
Enterprise Application Integration is defined as the use of software and computer systems architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications.- Overview :...

 product called TIBCO Rendezvous
TIBCO Rendezvous
TIBCO Rendezvous is a software product that provides a message bus for enterprise application integration .-Details:TIBCO provides messaging APIs in C, C++, Java, Visual BASIC, Perl and .NET to receive data feeds on MS Excel spreadsheets and other applications of choice.The basic message passing is...

 on the market since 1994 and stated that it had tried to come to an agreement with Apple Computer. In July 2004 Apple Computer and Tibco reached an out-of-court settlement; specifics of the settlement were not released to the public.

On April 12, 2005, Apple announced the renaming of Rendezvous to "Bonjour".

The greeting bonjour is French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 for "good day" and "rendezvous" comes from the French word for "meeting, appointment".

See also

  • .local
    .local
    local is a pseudo-top-level domain used in multicast domain name service of zero configuration networking discovery protocols.Apple's Bonjour implements mDNS, as does Avahi...

  • PostgreSQL
    PostgreSQL
    PostgreSQL, often simply Postgres, is an object-relational database management system available for many platforms including Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, MS Windows and Mac OS X. It is released under the PostgreSQL License, which is an MIT-style license, and is thus free and open source software...

     database supports Bonjour
  • Service Location Protocol
    Service Location Protocol
    The Service Location Protocol is a service discovery protocol that allows computers and other devices to find services in a local area network without prior configuration. SLP has been designed to scale from small, unmanaged networks to large enterprise networks...

  • Sleep Proxy Service
    Sleep Proxy Service
    Apple's Bonjour Sleep Proxy service is an open sourcecomponent of zero configuration networking, designed to assist in reducing power consumption of networked electronic devices. A device acting as a sleep proxy server will respond to Multicast DNS queries for another, compatible device which has...

    , also known as Bonjour Sleep Proxy
  • Universal Plug and Play
    Universal Plug and Play
    Universal Plug and Play is a set of networking protocols for primarily residential networks without enterprise class devices that permits networked devices, such as personal computers, printers, Internet gateways, Wi-Fi access points and mobile devices to seamlessly discover each other's presence...

     – provides discovery functionality similar to Bonjour among other things
  • WS-Discovery - a technical specification that defines a multicast discovery protocol to locate services on a local network.
  • Zero configuration networking

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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