.. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/launchd.svg :target: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/launchd

.. image:: https://github.com/infothrill/python-launchd/actions/workflows/tests.yml/badge.svg?branch=main

launchd is a pythonic interface to interact with macOS's launchd <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launchd>. It provides access to basic querying and interaction with launchd. It is implemented using the Objective C ServiceManagement framework <https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/General/Reference/ServiceManagementFwRef/_index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40009335> as well as the launchd command line utility. Therefore, this python package can only be used on macOS <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS>_

The python objective C bridge contains some special types. This package strips off all non built-in type information and returns pure python data.

Examples

The relevant import statement is:

.. code-block:: python

import launchd

Listing all launchd jobs:

.. code-block:: python

for job in launchd.jobs():
    print(job.label, job.pid, job.laststatus, job.properties, job.plistfilename)

Find the pid and laststatus of a job:

.. code-block:: python

launchd.LaunchdJob("com.apple.Finder").pid 278

launchd.LaunchdJob("com.apple.Finder").laststatus 0

launchd.LaunchdJob("com.example.fubar").pid Traceback (most recent call last): File "launchd/launchctl.py", line 78, in refresh raise ValueError("job '%s' does not exist" % self.label) ValueError: job 'com.example.fubar' does not exist

Detect if a job exists:

.. code-block:: python

launchd.LaunchdJob("com.example.fubar").exists() False

launchd job properties (these come directly from launchd and NOT the .plist files):

.. code-block:: python

launchd.LaunchdJob("com.apple.Finder").properties {'OnDemand': 1, 'PID': 278, 'PerJobMachServices': {'com.apple.coredrag': 0, 'com.apple.axserver': 0, 'com.apple.CFPasteboardClient': 0, 'com.apple.tsm.portname': 0}, 'LimitLoadToSessionType': 'Aqua', 'Program': '/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder', 'TimeOut': 30, 'LastExitStatus': 0, 'Label': 'com.apple.Finder', 'MachServices': {'com.apple.finder.ServiceProvider': 10}}

launchd.LaunchdJob("com.apple.Finder").properties["OnDemand"] 1

Find all plist filenames of currently running jobs:

.. code-block:: python

for job in launchd.jobs(): if job.pid is None or job.plistfilename is None: continue print(job.plistfilename)

Job properties of a given job (this uses the actual .plist file):

.. code-block:: python

launchd.plist.read("com.apple.kextd") {'ProgramArguments': ['/usr/libexec/kextd'], 'KeepAlive': {'SuccessfulExit': False}, 'POSIXSpawnType': 'Interactive', 'MachServices': {'com.apple.KernelExtensionServer': {'HostSpecialPort': 15}}, 'Label': 'com.apple.kextd'}

Installation

.. code-block:: bash

$ pip install launchd

or, if you want to work using the source tarball:

.. code-block:: bash

$ python setup.py install

Requirements

• OS X >= 10.6
• Python 3.4+