2.5. Types of launchd Services
Now that we've looked at programmatically managing launchd, let's look at the two types of services that launchd manages: LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons.
LaunchAgents run on behalf of a user and therefore need the user to be logged in to run. LaunchAgent configuration plist files are stored in the /System/Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchAgents. User launch agents are installed in the ~/Library/LaunchAgents folder.
LaunchDaemons can run without a user logged in. Launch daemons cannot display information using the GUI. Much like LaunchAgents, LaunchDaemon configuration plist files are stored in the /System/Library/LaunchDaemons folder (for those provided by Apple et al) and /Library/LaunchDaemons (for the ...
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