Open Launchd

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger introduced a new program called launchd. The daemon replaced SystemStarter (MacOS legacy) and older rc.d (BSD legacy) startup processes and job management functionality.

Launchd can be split into two logical pieces, "process 1", i.e. the root launchd which controls system startup and system daemons and "user launchd" which allows invividual users to manage their own processes/jobs.

Why?

The primary goal of this project is to port launchd in its entirety over to FreeBSD, hopefully making it usable by other BSD or Linux systems along the way. That said, the primary motivator for the original porting work in 2005 was to improve boot time. While improved boot time would be of tangible benefit to FreeBSD users, the current motivator of this project is to enable modern process management for user and system level processes on FreeBSD systems.

Getting involved:

• #openlaunchd on the Freenode is where development discussion can occur.
• open launchd mailing list

Helpful links

• The main project home page can be found on the FreeBSD project wiki.
• rwatson@ runs fxr.watson.org which can be very useful for cross-referencing Apple system headers and code, with FreeBSD system headers and code