MacOS – launchd StartCalendarInterval not working reliably

launchdmacos

I have several tasks that I run from launchd using StartCalendar interval.

Under Yosemite these do not necessarily run. (Under Mavericks and earlier they did run)

How do I see what launchd is doing and thinks should happen, how can I get launchd to log what happens(The tasks themselves write to logs but if they don't run I obviously get nothing)

For example I have this task which is due off at 1212 and 1412 and 2039 and on at 0601. The log gives all at the same time

2014-11-08 15:29:56.082 tdtool_mwb[9383:329594] Turning off device 3, Other
2014-11-08 15:29:56.684 tdtool_mwb[9387:329601] Turning on device 3, Other
2014-11-08 22:32:18.563 tdtool_mwb[14594:523323] Turning off device 3, Other
2014-11-09 18:16:52.844 tdtool_mwb[21630:891263] Turning on device 3, Other
2014-11-09 18:16:52.844 tdtool_mwb[21626:891252] Turning off device 3, Other
2014-11-09 20:42:37.353 tdtool_mwb[23789:973903] Turning off device 3, Other

My machine does turn at 0600 and I was logged in at midday to 2100 on both days.

Note I have other scripts that have the same issue it is not just something with tdtool_mwb (or even if it was how do I debug this)

If I reboot then they run correctly for a day or two.

If the machine is running and not sleeping then also seems OK but if it sleeps then it fails.

Best Answer

It was a bug introduced in 10.10.0 as mentioned here

It seems to have been fixed in 10.10.3

Related Solutions

How to run a job once a day with launchd, regardless of when the computer is on

Launchd will run your jobs next time the mac wakes from sleep. So if you shut down your mac, this won't work. You will need to put your mac to sleep to get your daily script to run when the mac wakes if the last time it should have run was during the sleep duration.

man launchd.plist:

If the system is asleep, the job will be started the next time the computer wakes up. If multiple intervals transpire before the computer is woken, those events will be coalesced into one event upon wake from sleep.

Or in other words: You don't have to do anything specific, it's the default behavior anyway.

If you also want to run the command once after reboot, add

<Key>RunAtLoad</Key>
<true/>

to your launchd plist.

MacOS – launchd initiated process receiving signal 15 (TERM)

In the past when I need to diagnose something like this I've used the kill.d script from Brendan Gregg:

dtrace:::BEGIN
{
    /* Print header */
    printf("%5s %12s %5s %-6s %s\n","FROM","COMMAND","SIG","TO","RESULT");
}

syscall::kill:entry
{
    /* Record target PID and signal */
    self->target = arg0;
    self->signal = arg1;
}

syscall::kill:return
{
    /* Print source, target, and result */
    printf("%5d %12s %5d %-6d %d\n",
     pid,execname,self->signal,self->target,(int)arg0);

    /* Cleanup memory */
    self->target = 0;
    self->signal = 0;
}

Running it and then running killall Finder in another shell results in:

[user@fozzy Scripts]$ sudo kill.d.sh
 FROM      COMMAND   SIG TO         RESULT
  155      launchd    15 4294900609 -1
66872      killall    15 66687      0

Which tells you what (killall at PID 66872 with Signal 15) killed which process (in this case, 66687 my then-running instance of the Finder) and the result. It does slow down the system somewhat while running, but should provide you with the results you need - just make a note of your Finder PID before hand, and then let it run (either while you are working, or overnight to avoid disrupting your work) and look to see what killed that PID.

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