March 2016 - launchd-dev - lists.macosforge.org

About the ExitTimeOut key in a daemon's configuration plist
by Axel Luttgens 19 Apr '16

19 Apr '16

Hello, From launchd.plist(5): ExitTimeOut <integer> The amount of time launchd waits between sending the SIGTERM signal and before sending a SIGKILL signal when the job is to be stopped. The default value is system-defined. The value zero is interpreted as infinity and should not be used, as it can stall system shutdown forever. Since I’m considering a service that may sometimes need somewhat more time than the default wait time (10 seconds, IIRC), I tried with: <key>ExitTimeOut</key> <integer>60</integer> in the service’s plist. No problem with a "launchctl bootout": the daemon receives a TERM signal and shuts down cleanly. But when rebooting the machine, it seems that the system doesn’t send a TERM signal: it just waits for sixty seconds, then KILLs the daemon. On the other hand, without the ExitTimeOut key in the plist, the TERM signal is sent to the daemon upon reboot (as expected). This is with Mac OS X 10.11.3. Am I misunderstanding the role of that ExitTimeOut key? TIA, Axel

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What does the "_dirty" key mean?
by Axel Luttgens 08 Apr '16

08 Apr '16

Hello, When running: sudo launchctl print-disabled system on 10.11.3, I get: disabled services = { "_dirty" => true […] } What does that "_dirty" key mean? I’m asking, because I’m wondering if I did something wrong… TIA, Axel

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LaunchAgent best practice for turning "off" sockets
by Mitchell Laurren-Ring 31 Mar '16

31 Mar '16

I have a LaunchAgent that is configured via Sockets in the plist to listen on several IP+port number endpoints. I would like to make it possible to turn "off" some listening endpoints while the LaunchAgent is running. Here’s a section of my plist: <key>Sockets</key> <dict> <key>RemoteSocket</key> <dict> <key>SockServiceName</key> <string>26666</string> <key>SockFamily</key> <string>IPv4</string> <key>Bonjour</key> <string>myService</string> </dict> My process doesn’t have privileges so I can’t modify the plist. I could simply ignore connection attempts from my kevent code but, as you can see, I’m advertising my service via Bonjour. What is the best practice for doing this? -Mitchell J Laurren-Ring

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Strange XPC errors in log
by Rainer Brockerhoff 11 Mar '16

11 Mar '16

Hi! I'm debugging an XPC service with the ultimate aim to self-update one of my apps. The app itself is sandboxed, the service is not (which is OK as it's Developer-ID signed). So, the service runs well, downloads and installs the update if necessary, then launches the new version while quitting the old. All this works well, too, and I plan to release it soon, but... However, I see two strange errors in the Console log: 1) on my first call to the XPC service: ... com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.pid.<appName>.45747) Ignoring lax activation attempt for unsupported domain: <serviceBundleId> 2) when launching the updated app: ... com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.pid.(premature birth).45747) Could not resolve origin of domain. XPC services in this domain's bundle will not be bootstrapped: error = 3: No such process, taint = (untainted) This happens regardless of the value of "JoinExistingSession" in the XPC service's Info.plist. Note that both PIDs are the same, too! Any hints welcomed. TIA, -- Rainer Brockerhoff <rainer(a)brockerhoff.net> Belo Horizonte, Brazil "In the affairs of others even fools are wise In their own business even sages err." http://brockerhoff.net/blog/

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(re)configure a launchd created UNIX domain socket after Fast User Switching (on El Capitan)
by Ludovic Rousseau 01 Mar '16

01 Mar '16

Hello, I am using launchd to create a Unix domain socket /tmp/foobar.socket so that launchd starts my agent when someone connects to the sockets. It works fine except when Fast User Switching is involved. My problem is quite similar to the problem "Listening socket and fast user switching" [1] discussed on this mailing list in 2008. The difference is that I am using a UNIX domain socket and not a TCP socket. The problematic scenario is as follows: 1. User A logs in 2. User A can connect to the socket 3. User B logs in using the Fast User Switching 4. User B can connect to the socket 5. User B logs out 6. User A comes back and fast user switch to his session. Since user A does not _logs in_ again the socket is not changed/recreated and is still only usable by user B At this step user A gets: $ telnet /tmp/foobar.socket Trying /tmp/foobar.socket... /tmp/foobar.socket: Connection refused The socket is still present in /tmp/ but it belongs to user B and is no more usable but user A. What I would like is the ability for launchd to (re)configure the Unix domain socket each time a user authenticates to the console, either the first time or using the fast user switching method. - I use a UNIX domain socket so that only local processes can talk to the socket and use my agent. I don't want to open my agent to other computer on the network. - I use launchd to start my agent on request only. That is a very nice feature. I can't detect the user switching since my agent code is, most of the time, not running. - I can't use a different socket name per user since the client of my agent does not know who is currently logged. My client application is talking to the socket configured for whoever is logged at that time. My /Library/LaunchAgents/com.foobar.plist file contains: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" " http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>Label</key> <string>com.foobar</string> <key>ProgramArguments</key> <array> <string>/usr/local/lib/foobar_exe</string> </array> <key>Sockets</key> <dict> <key>Listeners</key> <dict> <key>SockPathName</key> <string>/tmp/foobar.socket</string> </dict> </dict> <key>ProcessType</key> <string>Interactive</string> </dict> </plist> Does launchd provides a solution to my problem? Should I open a bug at Apple to ask for this new feature in launchd? Thanks [1] https://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/launchd-dev/2008-May/000298.html -- Dr. Ludovic Rousseau

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