Moving from cron to launchd on Mac OS X Server

As the usage of cron is now deprecated on OS X and OS X Server in favour of launchd, I thought it was about time I learnt how to use launchd so I could move all my cronjobs across to it. launchd is one of Apple’s various contributions to the Unix world, and its purpose is to be a single tool to take the place of init and to replace a variety of startup mechanisms such as the rc/rc.d startup architecture, cron, and inetd/xinetd. In keeping with most other technologies emanating from Apple it is simple, elegant, efficient and powerful. If you do a significant amount of Mac administration then now is the time to learn launchd if you haven’t already.

Continue reading “Moving from cron to launchd on Mac OS X Server”