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I have created a LaunchDaemon service which runs a application

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.testapp.plist

Here is my com.testapp.plist:

<?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.testapp</string>
    <key>OnDemand</key>
    <false/>
    <key>UserName</key>
    <string>root</string>
    <key>GroupName</key>
    <string>wheel</string>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/OutputLog1.log</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/OutputLog2.log</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/TestApplication/Test.app/Contents/MacOS/Test</string>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>

It is working fine. But when I reboot my system, launchdaemon start my application but it kills the application.

Log which I get in console is,

20/03/17 7:15:25.239 PM Test[50]: Untrusted apps are not allowed to connect to Window Server before login.
20/03/17 7:15:25.239 PM Test[50]: Set a breakpoint at CGSLogError to catch errors as they are logged.
20/03/17 7:15:25.239 PM Test[50]: On-demand launch of the Window Server is allowed for root user only.
20/03/17 7:15:25.239 PM Test[50]: CGSLookupServerRootPort: Failed to look up the port for "com.apple.windowserver.active" (1102)
20/03/17 7:15:25.239 PM Test[50]: On-demand launch of the Window Server is allowed for root user only.
20/03/17 7:15:25.239 PM Test[50]: CGSLookupServerRootPort: Failed to look up the port for "com.apple.windowserver.active" (1102)
20/03/17 7:15:25.239 PM Test[50]: This user is not allowed access to the window system right now.
20/03/17 7:15:34.721 PM Test[50]: RegisterApplication(), FAILED TO establish the default connection to the WindowServer, CGSDefaultConnection() is NULL.
20/03/17 7:15:34.732 PM Test[50]: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.
20/03/17 7:15:34.732 PM Test[50]: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.
20/03/17 7:15:34.735 PM Test[50]: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.
20/03/17 7:15:34.735 PM Test[50]: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.
20/03/17 7:15:34.735 PM Test[50]: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.
20/03/17 7:15:34.736 PM Test[50]: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.
20/03/17 7:15:34.736 PM Test[50]: Invalid Connection ID 0
20/03/17 7:15:34.970 PM Test[50]: CGSLookupServerRootPort: Failed to look up the port for "com.apple.windowserver.active" (1102)
20/03/17 7:15:34.970 PM Test[50]: CGSLookupServerRootPort: Failed to look up the port for "com.apple.windowserver.active" (1102)
20/03/17 7:15:34.970 PM Test[50]: CGSLookupServerRootPort: Failed to look up the port for "com.apple.windowserver.active" (1102)
20/03/17 7:15:34.972 PM Test[50]: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.
20/03/17 7:15:34.972 PM Test[50]: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.
20/03/17 7:15:34.972 PM Test[50]: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.
20/03/17 7:15:34.976 PM Test[50]: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.
20/03/17 7:15:34.977 PM Test[50]: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.

I also checked application running state from Activity Monitor which shows that application is running.

Also checked the daemon state by 

sudo launchctl list | grep testapp

which also shows that daemon is also running.

Also, below is my stdout log from daemon plist (It logs the log that I did in my application):

2017-03-27 18:04:34.841 Test[802:16596] Application Started...
2017-03-27 18:04:34.896 Test[802:16596] argc : 1
2017-03-27 18:04:35.123 Test[802:16596] applicationWillFinishLaunching...
2017-03-27 18:04:35.145 Test[802:16596] CFPasteboardRef CFPasteboardCreate(CFAllocatorRef, CFStringRef) : failed to create global data
2017-03-27 18:04:35.146 Test[802:16596] CFPasteboardRef CFPasteboardCreate(CFAllocatorRef, CFStringRef) : failed to create global data
2017-03-27 18:04:35.147 Test[802:16596] CFPasteboardRef CFPasteboardCreate(CFAllocatorRef, CFStringRef) : failed to create global data
2017-03-27 18:04:35.148 Test[802:16596] CFPasteboardRef CFPasteboardCreate(CFAllocatorRef, CFStringRef) : failed to create global data
2017-03-27 18:04:35.224 Test[802:16596] applicationDidFinishLaunching...
2017-03-27 18:04:35.238 Test[802:16596] applicationDidChangeOcclusionState...
2017-03-27 18:04:35.253 Test[802:16596] applicationDidChangeOcclusionState...
2017-03-27 18:05:13.000 Test[820:17234] Application Started...
2017-03-27 18:05:13.072 Test[820:17234] argc : 1
2017-03-27 18:06:09.566 Test[92:505] Application Started...
_RegisterApplication(), FAILED TO establish the default connection to the WindowServer, _CGSDefaultConnection() is NULL.
2017-03-27 18:06:17.845 Test[92:505] argc : 1
2017-03-27 18:06:18.254 Test[92:505] applicationWillFinishLaunching...
2017-03-27 18:06:18.299 Test[92:505] CFPasteboardRef CFPasteboardCreate(CFAllocatorRef, CFStringRef) : failed to create global data
2017-03-27 18:06:18.300 Test[92:505] CFPasteboardRef CFPasteboardCreate(CFAllocatorRef, CFStringRef) : failed to create global data
2017-03-27 18:06:18.300 Test[92:505] CFPasteboardRef CFPasteboardCreate(CFAllocatorRef, CFStringRef) : failed to create global data
2017-03-27 18:06:18.302 Test[92:505] CFPasteboardRef CFPasteboardCreate(CFAllocatorRef, CFStringRef) : failed to create global data
2017-03-27 18:06:22.918 Test[92:505] In -[NSApplication(NSQuietSafeQuit) _updateCanQuitQuietlyAndSafely], _LSSetApplicationInformationItem(NSCanQuitQuietlyAndSafely) returned error -600

I am not able to get the main cause of this issue .

Please help.

Thanks in advance.

Akshada-Systematix
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1 Answers1

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As this answer shows, the error message:

Untrusted apps are not allowed to connect to Window Server before login.

is misleading in that it suggest the problem is one of trust, when in reality the problem is that you're attempting GUI operations from the wrong context.

Launch daemons run in a system context independently of and potentially before any users logs on, and have no access to the Window Server - they cannot present a UI.

In short: if your application presents a user interface, it cannot run as a daemon.

By contrast, launch agents (loaded from /Library/LaunchAgents and ~/Library/LaunchAgents) are capable of presenting a GUI, Apple recommends against it.

Perhaps all you need is to create a login item, though you'd have to create that on a per-user basis.

For an overview of the various ways to run an application whenever a user logs on, see this answer of mine.

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mklement0
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  • Thanks and sorry but can you please elaborate the same? Also, I am updating my question with the log from stdout from daemon plist. – Akshada-Systematix Mar 27 '17 at 12:49
  • @Akshada-Systematix: See if my update helps. What does your app actually do? Does it need to run as root? Does it need to run for every user of the system? The best method to launch your app depends on the answers to these questions. – mklement0 Mar 27 '17 at 12:56
  • The purpose of my app is to run track location in background and it should be regardless of any user which leads me towards launchdaemon. The app will be hidden and will not visible to user. For the same, I have deleted "Window" and "Main Menu" from my application's "MainMenu.xib". Also added below lines to hide my application. ProcessSerialNumber psn = { 0, kCurrentProcess }; TransformProcessType(&psn, kProcessTransformToBackgroundApplication); To hide I also tried, LSUIElement Please help. – Akshada-Systematix Mar 27 '17 at 13:48
  • @Akshada-Systematix: Try `LSBackgroundOnly` instead. If that doesn't help, perhaps you need to create a _command-line tool_ rather than an `*.app` bundle. If you have follow-up questions, please _post a new question_. – mklement0 Mar 27 '17 at 14:25