Re-enrolling a LaunchDaemon, does it require user auth?

To do this, I think I need to call unregisterAndReturnError and then registerAndReturnError.

You do? I’ve always assumed that, assuming you’re using BundleProgram to load the daemon relative to your app, it’d just pick up the new version the next time it starts.

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

Yes, I have confirmed that the prior service will continue running after replacing the app bundle and restarting the app. Once the computer is restarted, the new service will be started.

Furthermore, I am seeing the same behavior as https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/768592, wherein I cannot unregister and immediately re-register the service.

But so far from my testing, once I have unregistered, I am able to re-register (after a delay) without a prompt for the user's admin password. Do you know whether that will always be the case, or are there situations where re-authorization will be needed? After I unregister the service, it will still appear as enabled in Login Items & Extensions settings. Maybe that's why re-authorization isn't required?

Thanks for your help!

So, my go-to resource for this API is the doc comments in the <ServiceManagement/SMAppService.h> header. This has a number of choice quotes, including this:

If an app updates either the plist or the executable for a LaunchAgent or LaunchDaemon, the SMAppService must be re-registered or it may not launch.

this:

It is recommended to also call unregister before re-registering if the executable has been changed.

and this:

If the service is already registered, this API will return error kSMErrorAlreadyRegistered

I cannot unregister and immediately re-register the service.

Is that with the completion-handler variant of the unregister? If you’re using Swift, you can call it directly or using the async variant that Swift conses up for you.

The doc comments say:

After the completion handler has been invoked [1] it is safe to re-register the service.

so if you’re re-registration is failing in that case then that’s definitely bugworthy.

[1] If you’re using the Swift async variant then this simply means that the async function has returned.

Do you know whether that will always be the case … ?

I don’t know. The quotes above make it clear that the unregister then re-register path is meant to be smooth, but it’s hard to prove a negative.

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

Thanks for your helpful reply.

I'm using objective-c (though I don't have much experience with it, and am learning as I go).

I've tried using the completion-handler variant, like so:

SMAppService* myservice = [SMAppService daemonServiceWithPlistName:@"myservice.plist"];
[myservice unregisterWithCompletionHandler:^(NSError * error){
	if (error != NULL) {
		NSLog(@"Could not unregister myservice: %@", error.localizedDescription);
		return;
	}
	NSLog(@"Successfully unregistered myservice, now trying to register it again");
	NSError* err;
	bool success = [myservice registerAndReturnError:&err];
	if (success) {
		NSLog(@"Successfully registered myservice");
	} else {
		NSLog(@"Could not register myservice: %@", err.localizedDescription);
	}
}];

This successfully unregisters the service, but fails to register it again. Instead I get the error:

Could not register myservice: The operation couldn't be completed. Operation not permitted.

And sure enough, the service does not start in this case.

However, if I add [NSThread sleepForTimeInterval:2.000]; before calling registerAndReturnError, then registering succeeds.

Maybe I'm using the completion handler incorrectly?

IMO this is a bug. The doc comment I quoted above makes it clear that this is an expected use case.

I encourage you to file a bug about this. Please post your bug number, just for the record.

On the workaround front, you might wanna try this:

[myservice unregisterWithCompletionHandler:^(NSError * error){
    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
        … your re-registration code …
    });
}];

because a simple turn of the run loop might be sufficient to get things working. If not, you’ll have to pick an arbitrary delay, which is not ideal but it’s not too bad either.

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