"service is in penalty box"

Question

hacksaw OP

Created Nov ’23

Replies 3

Boosts 0

Participants 2

I'm getting this message in a launchd log. The service in question is a Focusrite thing.

What does it mean?

(system/com.focusrite.ControlServer) <Notice>: cannot spawn: service is in penalty box

The peripheral seems to be working fine.

Answered by DTS Engineer in 796388022

Written by hacksaw in 796270022

Mostly I want to know what being in a penalty box means.

The exact mechanics of this are… complex, but AFAICT it means that launchd was unable to start the service because of a problem with the service itself, for example:

The service specifies a user (UserName) or group (GroupName) and launchd can’t establish that identity.
There’s a problem with the executable, for example, it doesn’t have a valid architecture or it’s inaccessible due to permissions.

There’s probably more subtle stuff as well, but this should give you the general idea.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

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Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Nov ’23

The service in question is a Focusrite thing.

Are you building this program? Or just using it?

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

0

Answer 2

hacksaw OP

Jul ’24

I was just using the program. Mostly I want to know what being in a penalty box means. Obviously it's not urgent, in fact I haven't seen it any time lately, so maybe a macOS upgrade changed things. I found it when I was looking to understand what the plugin I was developing was doing.

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Answer 3

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Jul ’24

Recommended

Written by hacksaw in 796270022

Mostly I want to know what being in a penalty box means.

The exact mechanics of this are… complex, but AFAICT it means that launchd was unable to start the service because of a problem with the service itself, for example:

The service specifies a user (UserName) or group (GroupName) and launchd can’t establish that identity.
There’s a problem with the executable, for example, it doesn’t have a valid architecture or it’s inaccessible due to permissions.

There’s probably more subtle stuff as well, but this should give you the general idea.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

0