What are the OS X session types, and what do they mean?

Question

I've been trying to find out the meaning of LimitLoadToSessionType in launchctl on OS X (Lion).

After scouring the internet, it seems the value can be one of: Aqua, LoginWindow, Background, StandardIO and System.

Are there any missing, and more importantly, does anyone know what effect they have?

CharlesB · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-14 05:54:41Z

20

This Apple Technical Note explains most of the session types (it doesn't cover System; I think Tech Note was last updated for Snow Leopard and System was probably added for Lion):

Briefly:

Aqua: a GUI agent; has access to all the GUI services
LoginWindow: pre-login agent; runs in the login window context
Background: runs in the parent context of the user
StandardIO: runs only in non-GUI login session (e.g. SSH sessions)

I could guess about System, but then so could you. I wish Apple would update the TN2083 for OS X 10.7.

edited May 14, 2012 at 5:54

CharlesB

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answered May 14, 2012 at 2:26

Dave Hein

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Chris Smith Over a year ago

I don't understand what System is either but I ran across a command line app that required it and it means you must install under root. For example with brew, you would do "sudo brew services start <formula>" and then the "System" LimitLoadToSessionType is available (its not under a user agent)

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