On Sep 15, 2022, at 11:01, René J.V. Bertin wrote: > > On Thursday September 15 2022 10:07:24 Ryan Schmidt wrote: >> Apple's default value of Disabled is false, which means (according to the >> documentation I read) that the service will be started automatically the >> next time the system starts up > > Or the user logs in, for agents. That's what I thought too until recently, > but the manpage also says > > "This document details the parameters that can be given to an XML property > list that can be loaded into launchd with launchctl." > > The launchd manpage confirms this by stating that > "The primary and preferred interface to launchd is via the launchctl(1) tool > which (among other options) allows the user or administrator to load and > unload jobs." > > But it also says > > "Where possible, it is preferable for jobs to launch on demand based on > criteria specified in their respective configuration files."
Yes, to all of that, but none of that really relates to the question you asked about the Disabled key. > which could imply that jobs can get loaded by simply being in the proper > directory. Indeed Apple believes it is more efficient if you write launchd plists that work "on demand", that is to say, they specify under what conditions they should launch (e.g. when a connection comes in on a particular network port or when a file appears in a particular directory or at a particular time of day) and launchd then arranges for that to happen. launchd plists created by the MacPorts startupitem keyword to not do this* but manually-written plists that ports may install could do that if desired. Merely being placed in a directory does not cause a launchd plist to be loaded. Loading a launchd plist does not necessarily mean that a process will run. It just means that it is then possible for the OS to run the process under whatever conditions the launchd plist specifies. MacPorts-created launchd plists will indeed start a process running the moment they are loaded, but plists coded to be "on demand" would not necessarily if their launch conditions had not been met. * https://trac.macports.org/ticket/13807 https://trac.macports.org/ticket/60654 >> , but we want the plists our ports install to be disabled until the user >> enables them. > > But would launchd even look where MacPorts installs these plists? I suppose > it doesn't... MacPorts places symlinks to its launchd plists in /Library/LaunchDaemons so that launchd can find them. This has been working fine ever since launchd support was added to MacPorts for the release of Tiger over 17 years ago.
