
Plist editor free mac os#
These directories are all kept in the typical Library directories of Mac OS X. These may be scripts or other foreground items, and they can even include a user interface. The LaunchAgents directories contain jobs, called agent applications, that will run as a user or in the context of userland.The LaunchDaemons directories contain items that will run as root, generally background processes.There are two different directories that are scanned: In step 4, the startup scripts scan through a few different directories for jobs to run. launchd runs /etc/rc, various scripts which scan through /System/Library/LaunchDaemons and /Library/LaunchDaemons, calling launchctl on the plists as needed, then launchd starts the login window.BootX loads the kernel, spins the pinwheel cursor, and loads any needed kernel extensions (kexts).Open Firmware activates, initializes the hardware, and then loads BootX.
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Here is a simplified view of the Mac OS X Tiger system startup on a PowerPC Mac (on an Intel Mac, EFI replaces Open Firmware and boot.efi replaces BootX): The first is to boot the system, and the second is to load and maintain services. launchctl can be used to load and unload daemons, start and stop launchd controlled jobs, get system utilization statistics for launchd and its child processes, and set environment settings.
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Launchctl is a command line application which talks to launchd using IPC and knows how to parse the property list files used to describe launchd jobs, serializing them using a specialized dictionary protocol that launchd understands. launchd itself has no knowledge of these configuration files or any ability to read them - that is the responsibility of "launchctl".

Stored in the LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons subdirectories of the Library folders, the property list-based files have approximately thirty different keys that can be set. launchd also has replaced init as PID 1 on macOS and as a result it is responsible for starting the system at boot time.Ĭonfiguration files define the parameters of services run by launchd.

Similar to watchdogd, launchd can monitor daemons to make sure that they keep running. Similar to xinetd, launchd can start daemons on demand. Launchd manages the daemons at both a system and user level. There are two main programs in the launchd system: launchd and launchctl.
