bonjour

bonjour is the PostgreSQL setting that controls whether PostgreSQL enables advertising the server via Bonjour.

Note

Fact — official short description: “Enables advertising the server via Bonjour.”

Identity

Type , Valuebool: Upstream pg_settings type
Context , Valuepostmaster: Requires a server restart
Unit , Value—: Raw unit
Range , Value—: Raw limits in the last observed version
Enum values , Value—: — for non-enum types
Category , ValueConnections and Authentication / Connection Settings: Upstream classification
Latest boot value , Valueoff: off

Lifecycle

Fact	Value
First observed	PG9.0 (research boundary)
Present in	PG9.0–19 Beta 3
Removed in	No
Introduction commit	Not asserted: predates the PG9.0 research boundary
Commit date	—
Discussion	—

Default history

Measured PG9.0–19 Beta 3 boot defaults
Versions	Raw `boot_val`	Unit	Human value
PG9.0–19 Beta 3	`off`	—	off

How it works

bonjour enables advertising the server via Bonjour. It publishes a discoverable service through mDNS only on builds and platforms with Bonjour support; it does not open a listener or alter pg_hba.conf.

bonjour is a POSTMASTER-context setting: PostgreSQL reads it during server startup, and a configuration reload or session SET cannot activate a new value.

Bonjour advertisement depends on platform support and publishes the listener as metadata; listen_addresses, port, pg_hba.conf, TLS, and firewalls still define actual reachability and trust.

Tuning advice

Tip

Advice. These are workload-specific starting points and must be validated with measurements.

Workload	Guidance
OLTP	Enable bonjour only when clients deliberately use Bonjour/mDNS on a trusted local network. Treat it as discovery metadata, never as authentication or a highly available service registry.
OLAP	Analytical workload shape does not justify different bonjour behavior; use the same reviewed discovery policy and stable service identity.
Small nodes	Leave bonjour off or empty unless local zero-configuration discovery is an explicit requirement; it does not improve database capacity.

Pigsty

Values use the fixed 8-vCPU, 32-GiB, 100-GiB SSD fixture and render the current Pigsty templates for PG19 Beta 3; this does not assert current Pigsty support for that historical or beta release.

Template	Effective value	Versus upstream boot	Source expression
OLTP	Unmodified	—	—
OLAP	Unmodified	—	—
CRIT	Unmodified	—	—
TINY	Unmodified	—	—

Caution

Advice — pending human review. Fact from the current Pigsty template projection: OLTP: PG9.0–19 Beta 3 unmodified; OLAP: PG9.0–19 Beta 3 unmodified; CRIT: PG9.0–19 Beta 3 unmodified; TINY: PG9.0–19 Beta 3 unmodified. No Pigsty-specific rationale is inferred from an absent override.

Common pitfalls

Expecting a reload or SET to activate bonjour, although it requires a controlled server restart.
Treating an mDNS advertisement as an access-control, authentication, or high-availability mechanism.
Publishing an unexpected service name or endpoint on an untrusted broadcast domain.
Changing bonjour globally without a rollback plan and a client or operational compatibility test.

listen_addresses · port · max_connections · reserved_connections · superuser_reserved_connections · unix_socket_directories