- launchd-dev - lists.macosforge.org

launchd tool crashing
by Steve Gehrman 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

I got a launchd tool working using ServiceManagement framework. It runs as root. The tool is setup to run for a few seconds after the last request and it will keep alive as long as requests are coming in using MachServices. When idle, the tool exits. If I try to run the tool a second time, it crashes. I found out the problem was on the application side I was using an NSConnection that connected to the tool that has already died. I didn't get any NSConnectionDied notifications or anything, so there's no way for me to know on the application side when the connection has gone down. If I try to use that connection, I get crashes, and I'm afraid there since this launchd stuff is so crash prone that it won't be reliable. I'm also sending an object "byRef" using DO from the application to my tool so the tool can talk back to my application. I'm using the same connection I get from connectionWithRegisteredName. My application does this to connect to the tool: NSConnection* connection = [NSConnection connectionWithRegisteredName: [self hostServerName] host:nil]; Do I need to invalidate the NSConnection before the tool dies? I think I just delete it. The crash is 100% repeatable. If I don't reuse the NSConnection on the app side for the next incoming request, it works fine. Should I always tear down the NSConnection and get it fresh for every call I make to my tool? // the crash Process: com.cocoatech.pathfinder.SMHelper [36457] Path: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/ com.cocoatech.pathfinder.SMHelper Identifier: com.cocoatech.pathfinder.SMHelper Version: ??? (???) Code Type: X86 (Native) Parent Process: launchd [1] Date/Time: 2009-08-28 00:25:47.754 -0700 OS Version: Mac OS X 10.6 (10A432) Report Version: 6 Exception Type: EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP) Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000 Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread Application Specific Information: *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInternalInconsistencyException', reason: '*** -[NSConcretePortCoder decodeInvocation]: no local target' *** Call stack at first throw: ( 0 CoreFoundation 0x9447b58a __raiseError + 410 1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x94304f49 objc_exception_throw + 56 2 CoreFoundation 0x9447b2b8 +[NSException raise:format:arguments:] + 136 3 CoreFoundation 0x9447b22a +[NSException raise:format:] + 58 4 Foundation 0x9352619f - [NSConcretePortCoder decodeInvocation] + 130 5 Foundation 0x935207ae - [NSConcretePortCoder decodeRetainedObject] + 794 6 Foundation 0x934ff805 _NSWalkData2 + 1098 7 Foundation 0x93525aa9 -[NSConnection handleRequest:sequence:] + 76 8 Foundation 0x9351fdfe -[NSConnection handlePortCoder:] + 951 9 Foundation 0x9351fa2d - [NSConcretePortCoder dispatch] + 160 10 Foundation 0x93507039 __NSFireMachPort + 325 11 CoreFoundation 0x943eadf2 __CFMachPortPerform + 338 12 CoreFoundation 0x943eab8e __CFRunLoopDoSource1 + 366 13 CoreFoundation 0x943e69e9 __CFRunLoopRun + 5561 14 CoreFoundation 0x943e4d34 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 452 15 CoreFoundation 0x943e4b61 CFRunLoopRunInMode + 97 16 Foundation 0x934df3e4 -[NSRunLoop (NSRunLoop) runMode:beforeDate:] + 279 17 Foundation 0x935343c8 -[NSRunLoop (NSRunLoop) runUntilDate:] + 79 18 com.cocoatech.pathfinder.SMHelper 0x00002bb6 - [NTSMHelperToolConnection(Private) startRunloop] + 198 19 com.cocoatech.pathfinder.SMHelper 0x00002633 + [NTSMHelperToolConnection connect] + 179 20 com.cocoatech.pathfinder.SMHelper 0x00002556 main + 102 21 com.cocoatech.pathfinder.SMHelper 0x000024e5 start + 53 ) Thread 0 Crashed: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread 0 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x944c5b07 ___TERMINATING_DUE_TO_UNCAUGHT_EXCEPTION___ + 7 1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x94304f49 objc_exception_throw + 56 2 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x943e4fbc CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 1100 3 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x943e4b61 CFRunLoopRunInMode + 97 4 com.apple.Foundation 0x934df3e4 -[NSRunLoop(NSRunLoop) runMode:beforeDate:] + 279 5 com.apple.Foundation 0x935343c8 -[NSRunLoop(NSRunLoop) runUntilDate:] + 79 6 ...coatech.pathfinder.SMHelper 0x00002bb6 - [NTSMHelperToolConnection(Private) startRunloop] + 198 7 ...coatech.pathfinder.SMHelper 0x00002633 + [NTSMHelperToolConnection connect] + 179 8 ...coatech.pathfinder.SMHelper 0x00002556 main + 102 (NTSMHelperTool.m:19) 9 ...coatech.pathfinder.SMHelper 0x000024e5 start + 53 Thread 1: Dispatch queue: com.apple.libdispatch-manager 0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9634b10a kevent + 10 1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9634b824 _dispatch_mgr_invoke + 215 2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9634ace1 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 163 3 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9634aa86 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 234 4 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9634a511 _pthread_wqthread + 390 5 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9634a356 start_wqthread + 30 Thread 2: 0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9634a1a2 __workq_kernreturn + 10 1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9634a738 _pthread_wqthread + 941 2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9634a356 start_wqthread + 30 Thread 0 crashed with X86 Thread State (32-bit): eax: 0x00000000 ebx: 0x94304f25 ecx: 0xa06ef500 edx: 0x0000003b edi: 0xa046eab0 esi: 0x00201a90 ebp: 0xbffffb18 esp: 0xbffffb00 ss: 0x0000001f efl: 0x00000286 eip: 0x944c5b07 cs: 0x00000017 ds: 0x0000001f es: 0x0000001f fs: 0x00000000 gs: 0x00000037 cr2: 0x00032000 Binary Images: 0x1000 - 0x3ff7 +com.cocoatech.pathfinder.SMHelper ??? (???) <361D2609-7597-AD42-0EFC-50122CD7183B> /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/ com.cocoatech.pathfinder.SMHelper 0x8fe00000 - 0x8fe4162b dyld 132.1 (???) <211AF0DD-42D9-79C8- BB6A-1F4BEEF4B4AB> /usr/lib/dyld 0x90003000 - 0x90083feb com.apple.SearchKit 1.3.0 (1.3.0) <9E18AEA5- F4B4-8BE5-EEA9-818FC4F46FD9> /System/Library/Frameworks/ CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/SearchKit.framework/ Versions/A/SearchKit 0x90206000 - 0x9022eff7 libxslt.1.dylib ??? (???) <769EF4B2-C1AD-73D5- AAAD-1564DAEA77AF> /usr/lib/libxslt.1.dylib 0x90388000 - 0x90425ff3 com.apple.LaunchServices 360.3 (360.3) <C8590D53-E46A-F58A-7CF2-03A8159D8569> /System/Library/Frameworks/ CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/ Versions/A/LaunchServices 0x90426000 - 0x90688ff3 com.apple.security 6.0 (36910) <F045B57C-054F- F06F-EF7E-EABEC2700274> /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/ Versions/A/Security 0x90d12000 - 0x90d4fff7 com.apple.SystemConfiguration 1.10 (1.10) <897AEEAF-CF5D-2843-C33B-31A0A7C98A6A> /System/Library/Frameworks/ SystemConfiguration.framework/Versions/A/SystemConfiguration 0x91118000 - 0x91121ff7 com.apple.DiskArbitration 2.3 (2.3) <E9C40767- DA6A-6CCB-8B00-2D5706753000> /System/Library/Frameworks/ DiskArbitration.framework/Versions/A/DiskArbitration 0x91508000 - 0x91609fe7 libxml2.2.dylib ??? (???) <C242A74D-280A-90C3-3F79-891624AA45D2> /usr/lib/libxml2.2.dylib 0x91cc0000 - 0x91d06ff7 libauto.dylib ??? (???) <FAB17F30-A28B- E33D-6E21-C7119C9C83ED> /usr/lib/libauto.dylib 0x91d54000 - 0x91ed6fe7 libicucore.A.dylib ??? (???) <FBB66376- CBA9-8149-A1AA-10AB8578C3B3> /usr/lib/libicucore.A.dylib 0x91ff5000 - 0x92028ff7 com.apple.AE 496 (496) <B638FDD4-7322-F0E4- ACEB-777D8A1399E1> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/ Versions/A/Frameworks/AE.framework/Versions/A/AE 0x92e58000 - 0x92f11fe7 libsqlite3.dylib ??? (???) <16CEF8E8-8C9A-94CD-EF5D-05477844C005> /usr/lib/libsqlite3.dylib 0x9306d000 - 0x9307aff7 com.apple.NetFS 3.2 (3.2) <E6FD80B0-0238-0C42- A3EC-EBDEC107A1C3> /System/Library/Frameworks/NetFS.framework/Versions/ A/NetFS 0x9348f000 - 0x936ffffb com.apple.Foundation 6.6 (751) <A61B645E-1A15-5BCA-3043-C8AB85C6AD30> /System/Library/Frameworks/ Foundation.framework/Versions/C/Foundation 0x9383d000 - 0x938e4fe7 com.apple.CFNetwork 454.4 (454.4) <7C563385-9893-3B48-8607-5BC81DA2C4CF> /System/Library/Frameworks/ CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CFNetwork.framework/ Versions/A/CFNetwork 0x93a2f000 - 0x93a3bff7 libkxld.dylib ??? (???) <152C8DBB-0149-5827-3240-E57CA85CFE5F> /usr/lib/system/libkxld.dylib 0x93e68000 - 0x93e68ff7 com.apple.CoreServices 44 (44) <AC35D112-5FB9-9C8C-6189-5F5945072375> /System/Library/Frameworks/ CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/CoreServices 0x94038000 - 0x94092ff7 com.apple.framework.IOKit 2.0 (???) <7618DDEC-2E3B-9C6E-FDC9-15169E24B4FB> /System/Library/Frameworks/ IOKit.framework/Versions/A/IOKit 0x942fb000 - 0x943a8fe7 libobjc.A.dylib ??? (???) <410DD065-A18F- F054-0457-65525F4D1039> /usr/lib/libobjc.A.dylib 0x943a9000 - 0x94520fef com.apple.CoreFoundation 6.6 (550) <193E33D6-2E92-3452-773B-60A1A9CCC573> /System/Library/Frameworks/ CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation 0x94760000 - 0x94774fe7 libbsm.0.dylib ??? (???) <14CB053A-7C47-96DA- E415-0906BA1B78C9> /usr/lib/libbsm.0.dylib 0x95f48000 - 0x96267fe7 com.apple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 859.1 (859.1) <2E72AF56-4BE6-294A-7372-19C360688B8B> /System/Library/ Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ CarbonCore.framework/Versions/A/CarbonCore 0x962d0000 - 0x962defe7 libz.1.dylib ??? (???) <7B7A02AB- DA99-6180-880E-D28E4F9AA8EB> /usr/lib/libz.1.dylib 0x962df000 - 0x96323fe7 com.apple.Metadata 10.6.0 (507.1) <CBD1B22B-5F10-C784-03A2-35106B97DF3F> /System/Library/Frameworks/ CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/ Versions/A/Metadata 0x96324000 - 0x964c8feb libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <068CC3F2-F867- A231-A16C-CC01C29A9816> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib 0x9688a000 - 0x968f4fe7 libstdc++.6.dylib ??? (???) <411D87F4- B7E1-44EB-F201-F8B4F9227213> /usr/lib/libstdc++.6.dylib 0x969d4000 - 0x969d7fe7 libmathCommon.A.dylib ??? (???) <1622A54F-1A98-2CBE-B6A4-2122981A500E> /usr/lib/system/ libmathCommon.A.dylib 0x97343000 - 0x97369fff com.apple.DictionaryServices 1.1 (1.1) <07694B30-56A9-5C98-B8BC-DA0628715FA8> /System/Library/Frameworks/ CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ DictionaryServices.framework/Versions/A/DictionaryServices 0x98c75000 - 0x98d3ffef com.apple.CoreServices.OSServices 352 (352) <D9F21CA4-EED0-705F-8F3C-F1322D114B52> /System/Library/Frameworks/ CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/OSServices.framework/ Versions/A/OSServices 0xffff0000 - 0xffff1fff libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <068CC3F2-F867- A231-A16C-CC01C29A9816> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib

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SMJobBless help?
by Steve Gehrman 25 Aug '09

25 Aug '09

I'm surprised that 10.6 is being released on Friday and there still is very little source code or documentation for new APIs from Apple. Has anyone successfully used SMJobBless? If someone can translate the docs from the header, that would help. What is "Each string is a textual representation of a code signing requirement"? A sample app would help. Does the blessed tool get moved or copied somewhere? I need my tool to be able to find frameworks in my apps bundle. Is this a problem? Do I need to call SMJobSubmit before I call SMJobBless? -steve /*! * @function SMJobBless * @abstract Submits the executable for the given label as a launchd job. * @discussion SMJobBless submits the executable for the given * label as a launchd job. This function obviates the need for a * setuid helper invoked via AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges() in order * to install a launchd plist. * * If the job is already installed, success is returned. * * In order to use this function the following requirements must be met: * * 1. The calling application and target executable tool must both be signed. * * 2. The calling application's Info.plist must include a * "SMPrivilegedExecutables" dictionary of strings. Each string is a textual * representation of a code signing requirement used to determine whether * the application owns the privileged tool once installed (i.e. in order * for subsequent versions to update the installed version). * * Each key of SMPrivilegedExecutables is a reverse-DNS label for the helper * tool (must be globally unique). * * 3. The helper tool must have an embedded Info.plist containing an "SMAuthorizedClients" * array of strings. Each string is a textual representation of a code signing * requirement describing a client which is allowed to add and remove the tool. * * 4. The helper tool must have an embedded launchd plist. The only required key in this * plist is the Label key. When the launchd plist is extracted and written to disk, * the key for ProgramArguments will be set to an array of 1 element pointing to a * standard location. You cannot specify your own program arguments, so do not rely * on custom command line arguments being passed to your tool. Pass any parameters via IPC. * * 5. The helper tool must reside in the Contents/Library/ LaunchServices directory inside the * application bundle, and its name must be its launchd job label. So if your launchd job * label is "com.apple.Mail.helper", this must be the name of the tool in your application * bundle. * * @param domain The job's domain. Only kSMDomainSystemLaunchd is supported. * @param executableLabel The label of the privileged executable to install. * This label must be one of the keys found in the SMPrivilegedExecutables * dictionary in the application's Info.plist. * @param auth An authorization reference containing the kSMRightBlessPrivilegedHelper right. * @param outError An output reference to a CFErrorRef describing the specific * error encountered while submitting the executable tool, or NULL if * successful. It is the responsibility of the application to release the * error reference. This argument may be NULL. * * @result True if the job was successfully submitted, otherwise false. */ Boolean SMJobBless(CFStringRef domain, CFStringRef executableLabel, AuthorizationRef auth, CFErrorRef *outError);

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Re: [launchd-dev] The "daemons must live for at least 60 seconds" factoid
by Jonathan del Strother 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 2:41 PM, Quinn<eskimo1(a)apple.com> wrote: > At 14:33 +0100 20/8/09, Jonathan del Strother wrote: >> >> It's actually monitoring a sqlite >> database - maybe sqlite is invisibly writing to it behind the scenes, >> I'll see if I can find anything with instruments... > > It's likely that <x-man-page://1/fs_usage> will also be instructive in this > case. > Yeah, fs_usage shows sqlite is accessing the file with "open F=3 (RWC___)" - I guess that's O_RDWR|O_CREAT? Is that enough to trigger launchd's watch paths?

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The "daemons must live for at least 60 seconds" factoid
by Jonathan del Strother 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

It's a commonly repeated piece of folklore that if your launchdaemon completes in under 60 seconds, launchd will assume it has crashed and will re-launch it. I have a LaunchAgent with a 2 minute StartInterval, which exits quickly if there are no available jobs for it to work on. launchd tends to run it once due to the StartInterval, then again 15 seconds later - presumably because it didn't live for at least 60 seconds. Adding "sleep(60)" to the end of my LaunchAgent seems to prevent it from launching the 2nd time around. However, I can't find any actual documentation that mentions this, and I'm sure I've heard somewhere that it was a Tiger bug/feature only, due to be fixed in Leopard - this appears to not be the case. It seems an odd feature, too - why relaunch something that exited with a successful status code? Is there any official documentation of this behaviour? -Jonathan del Strother

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launchd and syslog.conf
by Jonathan del Strother 19 Aug '09

19 Aug '09

Heya, I had a bit of a nightmare this morning trying to get logging information out of launchd. Apple's advice is to add 'launchd.* /var/log/launchd.log' to the /etc/syslog.conf file. As far as I can tell, this doesn't have any effect, and 'launchd' isn't listed as one of the facilities (auth, authpriv, cron...) mentioned in the syslog.conf manpage. I finally got some output by adding '*.debug /var/log/debug.log' to syslog.conf, but it would be great if I could narrow that down some more. Any hints? Jonathan del Strother

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Spackle
by Steve Gehrman 17 Aug '09

17 Aug '09

Apple didn't post their Spackle sample project from WWDC. Any one got it? -steve

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Mac OS-X 10.5 and "two icons bouncing in the dock" problem
by Hans-Peter Jansen 17 Aug '09

17 Aug '09

[Probably, this is the wrong list, but launchd is definitely involved; Any pointer to more appropriate lists are welcome] Hi, attached PyQt script demonstrates an ugly issue, I'm fighting with since a couple of days :-(. Issue: when starting the app via double click or single click on dock icon or dropping a plain/text file on dock or application icon, all actions lead to two bouncing icons. The one with the blue spot is the good one, that stops bouncing after start-up. The bad one will stop bouncing eventually, and shows "Application not responding" in its context menu then. As long as the bad one exists, dropping files on the good one will be ignored. After killing (and sometimes removing from the dock is necessary) all is well - one can drop files one the good one and on the app icon, all behaves well, up to the point of being terminated, then this ugly game starts again. The issue is not depending on the arch, but on OS-X 10.5. It does not happen with 10.4. It may be related to pyinstaller, but since I need to deploy the app on arbitrary 10.4 and later systems, omitting it is not an option. Termination of this process is accompanied with these syslog messages: Aug 13 19:01:26 g5 com.apple.launchd[124] ([0x0-0x130130]..local.LaunchProb[9611]): Stray process with PGID equal to this dead job: PID 9612 PPID 1 LaunchProb Aug 13 19:01:26 g5 com.apple.launchd[124] ([0x0-0x130130]..local.LaunchProb[9611]): Exited: Terminated BTW: pyinstaller does a fork in start up, see pyinstaller/source/linux/main.c around line 120; #ifdef __APPLE__ /* add workpath to DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH */ exportWorkpath(workpath, "DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH"); #endif pid = fork(); if (pid == 0) execvp(thisfile, argv); wait(&rc); rc = WEXITSTATUS(rc); VS("Back to parent...\n"); if (strcmp(workpath, homepath) != 0) clear(workpath); It seems to be the culprit, what what could be done to get this working nicely with 10.5, too? Should I set the same pgid on both processes? Any pointer to examples? Pre conditions: OS-X 10.5(.7/.8) with ppc or x86 arch Xcode 3.1.3 Python-2.6.2 Qt-4.5.2 sip-4.8.2 PyQt-4.5.4 Build it this way: tar xvzf launchprob.tar.gz && cd launchprob && ./build.sh -debug This command will fetch pyinstaller's SVN trunk, build pyinstaller, generate the app itself: LaunchProb.app. It can be moved to any system, as long as all required packages are cleanly built for both archs(*) and the minimum OS-X release is 10.4. Any ideas how to solve this issue are greatly appreciated. Thanks, Pete (*) I can provide more details for this on request

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is it possible to have behaviors based on OS versions?
by Iceberg-Dev 16 Aug '09

16 Aug '09

Is there any feature in launchd plist to have different behaviors depending on OS versions? For instance, on Mac OS X 10.5 and later, I would like the daemon to be launched by a mach port message and on Mac OS X 10.4, I would like it to be started at boot time (since mach_port are not supported).

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SampleD failure with dynamic SockServiceName
by David Anderson 13 Aug '09

13 Aug '09

My intention is have launchd start a daemon on a dynamic port, publish the port number via bonjour, and then connect to this port after determining the port number using CFNetService (Bonjour). Starting from SampleD (and using the included client.pl), I can advertise the service on a hard-coded port via bonjour, lookup the port number using Bonjour Browser, modify client.pl to use this port, and connect using client.pl. The SampleD binary starts correctly in an OnDemand fashion correctly. If I change <key>SockServiceName</key> <string>12345</string> to <key>SockServiceName</key> <string>0</string> then lookup the dynamic port number using Bonjour Browser and configure client.pl to use this port, client.pl will NOT connect to this port and outputs this error: connect: Connection refused at ./client.pl line 77. With a dynamic port, I am unable to connect to this port using a modified client.pl. I can find no evidence that the SampleD binary is starting in an OnDemand fashion. Adding <key>OnDemand</key> <false/> has no effect. Is there anything different about the default configuration of a dynamic port vs a hard-coded port that would impeded the ability to connect to the dynamically assigned port? Thanks, Dave

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Possible to work around 10.4 LaunchAgent bugs?
by Sidney San Martín 12 Aug '09

12 Aug '09

My current project needs an agent to run whenever a user is logged in. A LaunchAgent would be perfect for this, and in 10.5, it is. If I can't use a LaunchAgent on 10.4, the alternative isn't so appealing: * I'd need to use barely-supported procedures to install a global login item. * There would be separate install, update, and uninstall code paths for 10.4, 10.5+, and a 10.4 to 10.5+ migration * The daemon would need to be able to detect a migration from 10.4 to 10.5+ and convert the global login item to a LaunchAgent on first boot That's a little more complexity (and potential for a failure) than I want. Has anyone found workarounds for the issues in 10.4? Can I program my agent to handle the error conditions that lead to a failed launch (detect non-gui sessions, for instance) and exit gracefully before launchd rips it out?

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