Can anyone figure out launchd?

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
#1

because I sure can’t. In Panther, I used cron to automate backups, but Tiger’s launchd has me stymied. I have a working applescript that backs my hard drive up, but I just have to get it to launch every day at 9 PM. I’ve fiddled with the XML plist files, and I downloaded somebody helpful’s “launchd editor,” but nothing seems to work. My current strategy revolves around using osascript to run the applescript, but it duddin’ work. Here’s my plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> Label com.zanzibar.dailybackup OnDemand Program /usr/bin/osascript ProgramArguments /usr/bin/osascript ~/Documents/Applescript\ stuff/Automated\ backup\ attempts/Usable/Daily\ Backup.scpt RunAtLoad ServiceDescription Backs up Zanzibar to Mombasa using osascript to run Daily backup.app StartCalendarInterval Hour 21 Minute 0

I have this plist in ~/Library/LaunchAgents, and I loaded it with launchctl. Still nothing. Any help would be hujongously appreciated. Orr, if anyone could point me in the direction of anyone/anywhere else that might be of help, that’d be good, too.

#2

why use launchd in this fashion, when setting a crontab is much easier?

#3

Launchd Editor

#4

That’s what I ended up doing–and it works–but I know that crontab is deprecated, and as launchd seems to be the wave of the future, I just wanted some practice. And I did try the codepoetry Launchd Editor, but it didn’t work. I plundered the periodic daily script for my own usage and ONLY changed what it ran to my backup script (using osascript), and it still refused to work. I think launchd just hates me. :confused:

#5

bcause crontab will problably be gone in 10.5

#6

Read Craig Smith’s tutorial on launchd in unScripted

#7

are you serious? this is the first time i’ve heard anything about this. do you have a link, or are you just assuming? i’d be really surprised if the cron facility was completely gone–at least in 10.5–for legacy reasons.

#8

or try lingon I just ran a quick example on macosxhints.forums in a reply there.
Once you setup a job, you can look at the Expert TAB and see the xml