Automatically Restart launchd Scripts On Change

August 2023

This is the launchd script I use to restart launchd scripts when I'm working on them.

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.theidofalan.restart_launchd_scripts.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.theidofalan.restart_launchd_scripts</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/bin/bash</string>
        <string>-c</string> 
        <string>
touch /tmp/launchd_ping_a.txt
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.alanwsmith.* || true
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.alanwsmith.* 
touch /tmp/launchd_ping_b.txt
        </string> 
    </array>
	  <key>WatchPaths</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/alan/Library/LaunchAgents</string>
    </array>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/launchd_auto_restart.log</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/launchd_auto_restart.log</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Notes

The restarts everything in my name space. So, anything they do on startup gets triggered each time. Not an issue for me, but something to keep an eye on

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