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launchd

Scheduled activities: 3 launchd or DAS?

While macOS uses DAS-CTS to schedule hundreds of background activities, third-parties normally use launchd. Comes with a full diagram explaining DAS-CTS.

February 2, 2023 Macs, Technology

Scheduled activities: 1 Scheduling by DAS

How macOS schedules tasks like making automatic Time Machine backups, from property list to transactions between DAS and CTS.

January 23, 2023 Macs, Technology

How macOS schedules background activities

The story of how Mac OS X went from cron, to launchd, and ended up with Duet Activity Scheduler, to schedule background activities like backups.

January 21, 2023 Macs, Technology

How to run an app or tool at startup

Four popular and straightforward ways to set your Mac to run an app or other software when it starts up. Includes AppleScript code.

September 16, 2021 Macs, Technology

Running software automatically using launchd

How to set your Mac to run scripts, apps and other software automatically, and at regular intervals, using launchd and a property list.

September 13, 2021 Macs, Technology

Explainer: macOS scheduled background activities

T T Read More

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.

September 10, 2021 Macs, Technology

How macOS schedules and dispatches background tasks using CTS 3

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.

October 15, 2020 Macs, Technology

How macOS schedules and dispatches background tasks using CTS 2

In the first article in this series, I explained how a great many background activities in macOS, including […]

October 14, 2020 Macs, Technology

How macOS schedules and dispatches background tasks using CTS 1

Rather than using cron or launchd, many background services in macOS are now run using Centralized Task Scheduling (CTS). This is how it works.

October 13, 2020 Macs, Technology

Kickstarting and tearing down with launchctl

What’s the quickest way to tear down all user apps and services? Or to force a restart? The answer is in the command tool launchctl.

August 27, 2019 Macs, Technology

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