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macosdaemonlaunchd

Mac OS X: Launching an app using NSWorkspace from a daemon doesn't work if the daemon is run as root

I created a Command Line Tool app using Xcode. In that app, I used NSWorkspace to launch another application bundle (.app) as suggested here. MacOsX: How to launch an application (.app) from a "Command Line Tool" type of app

All seem to work fine until I tried to start that Command Line Tool app as a daemon using launchctl. If the daemon is run as the currently logged in user, then the Command Line Tool app launches the external app just fine. If the daemon is run as root, then the Command Line Tool app cannot launch the external app. Using NSWorkspace to open an app doesn't seem to work if the daemon is run as root.

Does anyone know the correct way to open another app from a daemon that's running as root?

Solution

  • I finally got it working by using the code mentioned in this link to get the "console user's" uid and gid:
    https://superuser.com/questions/180819/how-can-you-find-out-the-currently-logged-in-user-in-the-os-x-gui.

    The link shows an example of how to use SCDynamicStoreCreate() and SCDynamicStoreCopyConsoleUser() to get "console user's" uid and gid.

    After getting the uid and gid, just set the uid and gid to those of the console user before using NSWorkspace to open an app and that did the trick for me.