Getting "Service exited due to SIGTERM | sent by launchd" message for binary running as service under LaunchDaemons.
Scenarios:
- I have a binary running as service(service plist contents pasted in at the end), everything works fine.
- Now in order to use the newly compiled binary, I unload the service, replace the existing binary with the new one and then load the service.
- I expect to see the service running but what I see is that the service was killed by launchd with SIGTERM. Not sure why???
(snippet of system.log after doing launchctl load with the new binary)
sh-3.2# launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.MyPkg.myprogrambinary.plist
sh-3.2#
sh-3.2# tail /var/log/system.log
Nov 22 19:04:51 Nilesh-Mac-mini com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.MyPkg.myprogrambinary): Unknown key for string: ServiceDescription
Nov 22 19:04:51 Nilesh-Mac-mini com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.MyPkg.myprogrambinary): Please switch away from OnDemand to KeepAlive.
Nov 22 19:04:51 Nilesh-Mac-mini com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.MyPkg.myprogrambinary[73878]): removing service since it exited with consistent failure - OS_REASON_EXEC
Nov 22 19:04:51 Nilesh-Mac-mini com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.MyPkg.myprogrambinary): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.
Nov 22 19:05:01 Nilesh-Mac-mini com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.MyPkg.myprogrambinary[73886]): Service exited due to SIGTERM | sent by launchd[1]
Nov 22 19:05:01 Nilesh-Mac-mini com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.MyPkg.myprogrambinary): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.
Nov 22 19:05:11 Nilesh-Mac-mini com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.MyPkg.myprogrambinary[73887]): removing service since it exited with consistent failure - OS_REASON_EXEC
Nov 22 19:05:11 Nilesh-Mac-mini com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.MyPkg.myprogrambinary): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.BTW, everything works fine with the newly replaced binary if I restart the system. Also, both the binaries and the .pkg are codesigned and notarized.
Service plist:
sh-3.2# ls -l /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.MyPkg.myprogrambinary.plist
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1059 Nov 22 15:18 /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.MyPkg.myprogrambinary.plist
sh-3.2#
sh-3.2# cat /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.MyPkg.myprogrambinary.plist
Label
com.MyPkg.myprogrambinary
OnDemand
Program
/opt/myprogrambinary
ProgramArguments
/opt/config.json
RunAtLoad
ServiceDescription
MyPkg
UserName
root
WorkingDirectory
/opt/
sh-3.2#OS details:
sh-3.2# system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType
Software:
System Software Overview:
System Version: macOS 10.15 (19A602)
Kernel Version: Darwin 19.0.0
Boot Volume: Macintosh HD
Boot Mode: Booted from installation CD/DVD
Computer Name: Nilesh-Mac-mini
User Name: System Administrator (root)
Secure Virtual Memory: Enabled
System Integrity Protection: Enabled
Time since boot: 4 days 4:01What is it that I am missing or doing wrong?
PS: Observed that this is only reproducible on macOS 10.15 and not on any other macOS versions.
Thanks in advance!!!
Regards,
Nilesh chate
to use the newly compiled binary, I unload the service, replace the existing binary with the new one and then load the service.
How do you replace the binary?
The most common gotcha here is using a program that copies one executable over another. This doesn’t end well because the kernel caches code signing information that’s not flushed when you change the binary out from under that cache. When replacing binaries like this, it’s important to use a mechanism that doesn’t overwrite the binary. The standard approach is to save a temporary copy somewhere and then move it into place.
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