Prior to 10.4, Mac OS X used cron, then scheduling became part of the job of launchd. Later Apple added a new subsystem, Duet Activity Scheduler, which continues to evolve.
DAS
How the start of Time Machine backups to APFS volumes is scheduled and dispatched, and a fascinating Secure Backup Daemon.
How Time Machine has changed since it appeared in 2007, and how backing up to APFS volumes is different now it’s available in Big Sur.
CTS now schedules many important services, including syncing Calendar, Contacts, Messages, running weekly firmware checks with eficheck, and more.
CTS scheduling and dispatch of background tasks has no user interface, and no controls. How can you tell that there’s a problem, and what to do about it?
What does it take for an app to have ‘activities’ managed for efficiency by CTS? Not a lot – but in return, the management is a black box.
In the first article in this series, I explained how a great many background activities in macOS, including […]
Rather than using cron or launchd, many background services in macOS are now run using Centralized Task Scheduling (CTS). This is how it works.
Adds a new log view of background task scheduling and dispatch, greatly improves volume info, and fixes a rare crash.
It’s not very often that we see the birth of a whole new subsystem both in macOS and iOS, but RunningBoard is brand new with 10.15 and 13.
The Eclectic Light Company 