Need help getting launch daemon working on macOS

Question

I have a launch daemon that I just can't get to work. It's supposed to run a script every day at 3 AM. The script works and I can run it manually without sudo. See below for the launch daemon (com.rsync.plist) and the output of the commands I ran to start it. If anyone has any ideas why it won't run, I would really appreciate it.

'''

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
        <dict>
                <key>Label</key>
                <string>com.rsync</string>
                <key>Program</key>
                <string>/Users/xserve10/Documents/rsync.sh</string>
                <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
                <dict>
                        <key>Hour</key>
                        <integer>3</integer>
                        <key>Minute</key>
                        <integer>0</integer>
                </dict>
        </dict>
</plist>


Xserve-10s-Mac-mini:Documents xserve10$ ls /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rsync.plist
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rsync.plist
Xserve-10s-Mac-mini:Documents xserve10$ sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rsync.plist
Password:
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rsync.plist: service already loaded
Load failed: 37: Operation already in progress

'''

The file seems to be already loaded, try unloading it first with sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rsync.plist. — jaume
– jaume, Commented Oct 20, 2022 at 13:49
I've tried that several times. I've also tried setting it in my local LaunchAgents folder, still not working. — nick.sullivan510
– nick.sullivan510, Commented Oct 20, 2022 at 14:17
I'd recommend that you move /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rsync.plist elsewhere, restart your Mac, copy rsync.plist back to /Library/LaunchDaemons/ and run sudo launchctl load again. You may want to name com.rsync.plist differently, for example local.rsync.plist, to make it clear that you aren't running an "official" rsync plist, but a modified one. — jaume
– jaume, Commented Oct 20, 2022 at 14:43
You may be running into privacy protection on the user's Documents folder; see "What and how does macOS Mojave implement to restrict applications access to personal data?" and "How to run a LaunchAgent that runs a script which causes failures because of System Integrity Protection". Try moving it (and any other files it accesses) outside the user's home folder. — Gordon Davisson
– Gordon Davisson, Commented Oct 20, 2022 at 15:55
Thanks, I tried moving it to /Library/Scripts, I'll see if it works tomorrow. — nick.sullivan510
– nick.sullivan510, Commented Oct 20, 2022 at 19:29

user214295 · Accepted Answer · 2023-07-25 07:00:30Z

0

sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rsync.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rsync.plist

edited Jul 25, 2023 at 7:00

answered Jul 25, 2023 at 6:57

user214295

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