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The Rendezvous logo.

Bonjour, formerly Rendezvous, is Apple's trade name for its implementation of the IETF Zeroconf protocol - a computer network technology used in Apple's Mac OS X from version 10.2 onwards. It uses standard DNS packets in a new way. Thus it is a new service, but it is using a technology that is relatively old, DNS over IP.

Due to a 2004 settlement between Apple and Tibco Software Inc., Rendezvous has been renamed Bonjour, as Tibco had a different product called Rendezvous before Apple.

Bonjour is a general method to discover services on a local area network. This technology is widely used throughout Mac OS X and allows users to setup a network without any configuration. Currently it is used by Mac OS X to find printers and file sharing servers. It is used by iTunes to find music shares, iPhoto to find photo shares, iChat to find other local iChat users, and SubEthaEdit to find document collaborators. Additionally it is used by Safari to find local web servers, such as configuration pages for local devices.

Without special DNS configuration, Bonjour only works on a single subnetwork. There seems to be a misperception that a service made available over Bonjour is "on the Internet", or available to the world-wide users of the IP network known as the Internet. This is not true. Services are automatically made available to only the users of a single physical network, be it Ethernet or FireWire IP-based, which usually encompasses a fairly small area.

External links

General information

Programmers information

Related projects and software

Mod_rendezvous - a Rendezvous module for Apache running under Jaguar and earlier versions of Mac OS X
O'Reilly: Virtual Hosts, mod_rendezvous_apple, and Apache on Mac OS X
DNS Service Discovery - A tool to discover services on the local network

General Zeroconf information

Other implementations of Zeroconf

Zeroconf - The SourceForge.net project page for a Linux and Unix implementation of Zeroconf
Howl - The SourceForge.net project page for Howl, a cross-platform implementation of Zeroconf
JmDNS - The SourceForge.net project page for JmDNS, a Java based implementation of Multicast DNS (part of Zeroconf)
ZMAAP - A Java based ZeroConf implementation
MDNSD - A lightweight open source implementation of Multicast DNS (part of Zeroconf)

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 [[Image:Rendezvous_icon.jpg|right|120px|The Rendezvous logo.]]
-'''Rendezvous''' is [[Apple Computer|Apple]]'s [[trade name]] for its implementation of the [[IETF]] [[Zeroconf]] protocol - a [[computer network]] technology used in Apple's [[Mac OS X]] from version 10.2 onwards. It uses standard [[Domain Name System|DNS]] packets in a new way. Thus it is a new [[service]], but it is using a [[technology]] that is relatively old, DNS over [[Internet Protocol|IP]].
+'''Bonjour''', formerly '''Rendezvous''', is [[Apple Computer|Apple]]'s [[trade name]] for its implementation of the [[IETF]] [[Zeroconf]] protocol - a [[computer network]] technology used in Apple's [[Mac OS X]] from version 10.2 onwards. It uses standard [[Domain Name System|DNS]] packets in a new way. Thus it is a new [[service]], but it is using a [[technology]] that is relatively old, DNS over [[Internet Protocol|IP]].
-It has been widely rumored that due to a [[2004]] settlement between Apple and [[TIBCO_Software|Tibco Software Inc]]., Rendezvous will be called OpenTalk in the future, as Tibco had a different product called Rendezvous before Apple. Industry insiders agree that a name change is likely, but doubt that OpenTalk will be the new name. Apple has so far declined to comment.
+Due to a [[2004]] settlement between Apple and [[TIBCO_Software|Tibco Software Inc]]., Rendezvous has been renamed ''Bonjour'', as Tibco had a different product called Rendezvous before Apple.
-Rendezvous is a general method to discover services on a [[local area network]]. This technology is widely used throughout Mac OS X and allows users to setup a network without any configuration. Currently it is used by Mac OS X to find printers and file sharing servers. It is used by [[Apple iTunes|iTunes]] to find [[music share]]s, [[iPhoto]] to find [[photo share]]s, [[iChat]] to find other local iChat users, and [[SubEthaEdit]] to find document collaborators. Additionally it is used by [[Safari (browser)|Safari]] to find local web servers, such as configuration pages for local devices.
+Bonjour is a general method to discover services on a [[local area network]]. This technology is widely used throughout Mac OS X and allows users to setup a network without any configuration. Currently it is used by Mac OS X to find printers and file sharing servers. It is used by [[Apple iTunes|iTunes]] to find [[music share]]s, [[iPhoto]] to find [[photo share]]s, [[iChat]] to find other local iChat users, and [[SubEthaEdit]] to find document collaborators. Additionally it is used by [[Safari (browser)|Safari]] to find local web servers, such as configuration pages for local devices.
-Without special DNS [[configuration]], Rendezvous only works on a single [[subnetwork]]. There seems to be a misperception that a service made available over Rendezvous is "on the Internet", or available to the world-wide users of the IP network known as the [[Internet]]. This is not true. Services are automatically made available to only the users of a single [[physical network]], be it [[Ethernet]] or [[FireWire]] [[IP]]-based, which usually encompasses a fairly small area.
+Without special DNS [[configuration]], Bonjour only works on a single [[subnetwork]]. There seems to be a misperception that a service made available over Bonjour is "on the Internet", or available to the world-wide users of the IP network known as the [[Internet]]. This is not true. Services are automatically made available to only the users of a single [[physical network]], be it [[Ethernet]] or [[FireWire]] [[IP]]-based, which usually encompasses a fairly small area.
-The term ''rendezvous'' is also known as a [[synchronization strategy]] for [[message exchange]] of [[machine]]s and [[person]]s.
 ==See also==