- launchd-dev - lists.macosforge.org

launchctl bsexec and El Capitan follow up Q
by Gregory Neagle 21 Jul '15

21 Jul '15

In order to install some Adobe products when there is no GUI user currently logged in, it has been necessary to use `launchctl bsexec` to run the installation process in the same context as the loginwindow. Adobe documents this technique here: http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/creativesuite/pdfs/AAMEE_E… <http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/creativesuite/pdfs/AAMEE_E…> Here is an example from that document: sudo launchctl bsexec `ps auwwx |grep [l]oginwindow | awk '{ print $2 }'` Adobe\ AIR\ Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe\ AIR\ Installer -silent With the SIP and launchd changes in El Capitan, is there an equivalent? Though I would hope Adobe would fix their installers to not need these silly hacks, even if they do in the future, that’s not going to help the install of current and recent releases. -Greg

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Loading LaunchAgents for users in postinstall
by Per Olofsson 19 Jul '15

19 Jul '15

When an installer package contains a LaunchAgent we typically try to load it into any current user sessions, to avoid requiring a logout or restart. Through trial and error we've arrived at using launchctl bsexec with chroot in a loop like this: if [[ "$3" == "/" ]]; then # Load agent for all logged in users. for pid_uid in $(ps -axo pid,uid,args | grep -i "[l]oginwindow.app" | awk '{print $1 "," $2}'); do pid=$(echo $pid_uid | cut -d, -f1) uid=$(echo $pid_uid | cut -d, -f2) if [[ "$uid" -ne 0 ]]; then launchctl bsexec "$pid" chroot -u "$uid" / launchctl unload "$AGENT" launchctl bsexec "$pid" chroot -u "$uid" / launchctl load "$AGENT" fi done fi It's not perfect but it got the job done, but it looks like it breaks in the 10.11 betas if SIP is enabled (launchctl exits with code 5). Is there a better/proper/supported way of loading LaunchAgents for users in a background script running as root? -- Per Olofsson, IT-service, University of Gothenburg

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Re: [launchd-dev] Loading LaunchAgents for users in postinstall
by Hofi 18 Jul '15

18 Jul '15

As this solution (launchctl bsexec chroot) finally started working only in 10.10 and was broken almost till final, release version of Yosemete I suggest you to wait for the final release and file a bug report to apple. Hopefully they will fix it ASAP. ——————————————————— Hofi – Istvan Hoffmann On 7/17/15, 17:11 , "Per Olofsson" <launchd-dev-bounces(a)lists.macosforge.org on behalf of per.olofsson(a)gu.se> wrote: >When an installer package contains a LaunchAgent we typically try to load it into any current user sessions, to avoid requiring a logout or restart. Through trial and error we've arrived at using launchctl bsexec with chroot in a loop like this: > >if [[ "$3" == "/" ]]; then > # Load agent for all logged in users. > for pid_uid in $(ps -axo pid,uid,args | grep -i "[l]oginwindow.app" | awk '{print $1 "," $2}'); do > pid=$(echo $pid_uid | cut -d, -f1) > uid=$(echo $pid_uid | cut -d, -f2) > if [[ "$uid" -ne 0 ]]; then > launchctl bsexec "$pid" chroot -u "$uid" / launchctl unload "$AGENT" > launchctl bsexec "$pid" chroot -u "$uid" / launchctl load "$AGENT" > fi > done >fi > >It's not perfect but it got the job done, but it looks like it breaks in the 10.11 betas if SIP is enabled (launchctl exits with code 5). Is there a better/proper/supported way of loading LaunchAgents for users in a background script running as root? > >-- >Per Olofsson, IT-service, University of Gothenburg > >_______________________________________________ >launchd-dev mailing list >launchd-dev(a)lists.macosforge.org >https://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo/launchd-dev

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Re: [launchd-dev] correctly running service still getting 'Service only ran for 0 seconds.' log entries
by Damien Sorresso 27 May '15

27 May '15

You can file a Radar asking, but I highly doubt it would happen. The launchd changes in Yosemite were substantial, and a lot of new infrastructure was put in place to support fun new features like this. (Also see `launchctl print` and the launchctl(1) man page for other new and fun subcommands.) -damien On 27 May, 2015, at 10:52, Michael <keybounce(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On 2015-05-27, at 8:18 AM, Damien Sorresso <dsorresso(a)apple.com> wrote: > >> Todd, >> >> As of Yosemite, there is a new `launchctl blame` subcommand that you can use to identify why launchd chose to launch a particular service. > > Ohh, nice. Can that be back ported to 10.9.5? > > --- > Entertaining minecraft videos > http://YouTube.com/keybounce >

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correctly running service still getting 'Service only ran for 0 seconds.' log entries
by Todd Wade 27 May '15

27 May '15

Hello, I put http://paste.scsys.co.uk/483275 at /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.httpd24.plist and it started apache, but Server.app keeps logging 'com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (homebrew.mxcl.httpd24): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.' Why is launchd trying to restart its target when it is already running? Thanks!

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How to ensure that my job is launched through launchd and not directly?
by Raunak Poddar 20 Apr '15

20 Apr '15

I have a program and I want to ensure that it has been launched only by launchd (as a daemon) & it should terminate if the user launches it directly (double-click on Finder, terminal). Is there a nifty way of accomplishing this?

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launchctl list anomaly when logged in as root user
by Raunak Poddar 11 Apr '15

11 Apr '15

I have an launchd User Agent with label com.mycompany.myAgent & a launchd daemon with label com.mycompany.myDaemon. I use the command $launchctl list com.mycompany.myAgent & $sudo launchctl list com.mycompany.myDaemon to view the PID of my job and it's LastExitStatus. Everything works fine when I'm logged in as a standard/admin user. When I login as root (System Administrator) although, I do not get the status of my agent. I can see my agent's executable running in the Activity Monitor app but $launchctl list does not show my agent. Is there a way I can query my agent when logged in as root?

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StartCalendarInterval Issues
by Tyler Crouse 04 Feb '15

04 Feb '15

Hello, I work at the Marriott Library at the University of Utah and I help manage the Mac computers on campus. I am working on a script that will check some things and then send an email. The script works just fine when run manually or when using a LaunchDaemon and the RunAtLoad key, but it will not send the email if I use the StartCalendarInterval key. The script writes to a log whenever it runs, so I see that it runs, it just doesn't send the email. Does anyone know of something in launchd that is causing this issue? Thank you, Tyler Crouse Marriott Library ITS, University of Utah Mac Support Group

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Creating a Launch Agent (per user) on demand when client app is open
by Piotr Panasewicz 19 Jan '15

19 Jan '15

Hello, I would like to create a Launch Agent that would start on demand when my bundle app requires it. I have it currently implemented like below which monitors a specific path for existence of a file. This works ok for one user logged in. If I there are more users logged via Fast User Switching the OS tends to open the service for different user, not the one that’s currently using my app. That’s because two users are now monitoring the same path and the OS isn’t sure in which user’s context the service should run. Also my bundle app has LSMultipleInstancesProhibited set to true, so it isn’t allowed to run two instances at once. But if User A opens my app and there is a User B logged in, the service may open for User B (even the file from the plist was created by User A and User B hasn’t touched my app). Therefore I need a solution that would allow my client app to open the service for the same user it runs as. And if I close the app for User A, switch to User B and start the client, the service would now open for User B. Thanks, Peter <?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>KeepAlive</key> <dict> <key>PathState</key> <dict> <key>/Users/Shared/Company/Service.txt</key> <true/> </dict> </dict> <key>Label</key> <string>com.company.service</string> <key>Program</key> <string>/Users/Shared/Company/Service</string> <key>MachServices</key> <dict> <key>com.company.service</key> <true/> </dict> </dict> </plist>

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What is "Service only ran for XX seconds … Pushing respawn out …"
by Jerry Krinock 17 Nov '14

17 Nov '14

My app installs a launchd job which watches a file and runs a tool whenever that file changes. The tool typically runs for a few seconds and then terminates itself. This has worked OK for years. Yesterday, however, I noticed that launchd sometimes complains to the system log that my “Service” (??) ran for some number of seconds which is less than 60, and so it is “Pushing respawn out” by the difference in seconds between this duration that it supposedly “ran” and 60. Example: 14/11/16 3:31:54.822 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 25 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 35 seconds. Does anyone have any idea what might be going on? 60 seconds happens to be the ThrottleInterval of the job, not the expected “run” time. Am I running a “Service”? (I don’t think so.) Why might launchd think it needs to be “respawned”? I’m on OS X 10.10.1 (14B17). A sanitized version of my job’s plist, and a filtered console log, are below. I can’t find any of these strings in the latest launchd source, which might be at this link: http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/launchd/launchd-842.92.1/src/ But I’m *really* groping in the dark whenever I visit there. Thank you, Jerry Krinock <?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>MyLabel</string> <key>Nice</key> <integer>20</integer> <key>ProgramArguments</key> <array> <string>/path/to/MyTool</string> <string>MyArg1</string> <string>MyArg2</string> </array> <key>ThrottleInterval</key> <integer>60</integer> <key>WatchPaths</key> <array> <string>/path/to/MyFile</string> </array> </dict> </plist> 14/11/16 3:22:29.948 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 57 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 3 seconds. 14/11/16 3:25:05.659 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 59 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 1 seconds. 14/11/16 3:26:00.903 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 54 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 6 seconds. 14/11/16 3:30:29.608 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 60 seconds. 14/11/16 3:31:54.822 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 25 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 35 seconds. 14/11/16 3:33:20.050 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 50 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds. 14/11/16 3:34:28.347 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 58 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 2 seconds. 14/11/16 3:48:24.681 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 60 seconds. 14/11/16 3:49:59.418 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 34 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 26 seconds. 14/11/16 3:51:22.418 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 56 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 4 seconds. 14/11/16 3:52:43.228 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 1 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 59 seconds. 14/11/16 3:54:14.707 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 32 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 28 seconds. 14/11/16 3:56:06.659 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 60 seconds. 14/11/16 3:57:07.151 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 60 seconds. 14/11/16 3:58:32.343 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 25 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 35 seconds. 14/11/16 4:00:43.205 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 60 seconds. 14/11/16 4:04:30.194 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 60 seconds. 14/11/16 4:06:03.763 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 33 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 27 seconds. 14/11/16 4:07:08.939 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 38 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 22 seconds. 14/11/16 4:08:09.133 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 38 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 22 seconds. 14/11/16 4:10:03.729 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 1 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 59 seconds. 14/11/16 4:11:37.160 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 34 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 26 seconds. 14/11/16 4:12:54.515 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 51 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 9 seconds. 14/11/16 4:14:50.649 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 60 seconds. 14/11/16 4:16:54.758 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (MyLabel) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 60 seconds.

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