launchd: macOS daemon


December 2, 2023

Equivalent (or subset) of systemd in Linux, but for Mac. Configured with .plist file in XML format. Specification can be found in the manual page:

$ man launchd.plist

Apple’s support page points to the following directories for configurations:

FolderUsage
/System/Library/LaunchDaemonsApple-supplied system daemons
/System/Library/LaunchAgentsApple-supplied agents that apply to all users on a per-user basis
/Library/LaunchDaemonsThird-party system daemons
/Library/LaunchAgentsThird-party agents that apply to all users on a per-user basis
~/Library/LaunchAgentsThird-party agents that apply only to the logged-in user

Homebrew has an API to declare services related to a program, which is likely the simplest way to manage installation of third-party manifests.

Thanks for reading. More like this?

#til #tools #mac

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This site was last updated 2025-05-17T20:42:58-0700.

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