Tag: system-management

Capturing MacOS Settings Changes

Let me get this right out. I upgraded to MacOS 15 beta and it totally borked my machine. I had to do a full, fresh reinstall.

Totally my fault, and I should have prepared better.

So now, I’m trying to remember to capture my personal settings so I can use a shell script to restore them in case of emergency with defaults

With the help of ChatGPT and a lot of stupidity, I have created this:

#!/bin/bash

# Set the DEBUG flag (default is false)
DEBUG=false

# Define a function for logging debug information
log() {
    if [ "$DEBUG" = true ]; then
        echo "$@"
    fi
}

# Define a function for running commands with error suppression unless DEBUG is true
run_command() {
    if [ "$DEBUG" = true ]; then
        "$@"
    else
        "$@" 2>/dev/null
    fi
}

# Step 1: Define directories for temporary files
before_dir="/tmp/before_defaults"
after_dir="/tmp/after_defaults"
mkdir -p "$before_dir" "$after_dir"

# Step 2: Capture system-wide and global preferences

echo "Reading user-specific global preferences..."
run_command defaults read -g > "$before_dir/user_global_defaults.plist"

echo "Reading system-wide global preferences..."
run_command sudo defaults read -g > "$before_dir/system_global_defaults.plist"

echo "Reading user-specific system preferences..."
run_command defaults read > "$before_dir/user_system_defaults.plist"

echo "Reading system-wide system preferences..."
run_command sudo defaults read > "$before_dir/system_system_defaults.plist"

# Step 3: Get all domains and capture their preferences with and without sudo
echo "Reading defaults for all domains..."
domains=$(run_command defaults domains)
for domain in $domains; do
    log "Reading user-specific defaults for domain: $domain"
    run_command defaults read "$domain" > "$before_dir/${domain}_user_defaults.plist"
    
    log "Reading system-wide defaults for domain: $domain"
    run_command sudo defaults read "$domain" > "$before_dir/${domain}_system_defaults.plist"
done

# Step 4: Capture network settings (excluding Launch Services to reduce noise)
echo "Capturing network settings..."
run_command sudo cp /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist "$before_dir/network_settings.plist"

echo "Current preferences saved. Please make your changes now."
echo "Press any key to continue once you've made the changes..."
read -n 1 -s

# Step 5: Capture updated defaults
echo "Reading updated user-specific global preferences..."
run_command defaults read -g > "$after_dir/user_global_defaults.plist"

echo "Reading updated system-wide global preferences..."
run_command sudo defaults read -g > "$after_dir/system_global_defaults.plist"

echo "Reading updated user-specific system preferences..."
run_command defaults read > "$after_dir/user_system_defaults.plist"

echo "Reading updated system-wide system preferences..."
run_command sudo defaults read > "$after_dir/system_system_defaults.plist"

echo "Reading updated defaults for all domains..."
for domain in $domains; do
    log "Reading updated user-specific defaults for domain: $domain"
    run_command defaults read "$domain" > "$after_dir/${domain}_user_defaults.plist"
    
    log "Reading updated system-wide defaults for domain: $domain"
    run_command sudo defaults read "$domain" > "$after_dir/${domain}_system_defaults.plist"
done

echo "Capturing updated network settings..."
run_command sudo cp /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist "$after_dir/network_settings.plist"

# Step 6: Compare before and after to identify changes with unified diffs and output results directly

echo "Comparing preferences and generating diffs..."

# Global and system diffs
echo "Comparing global and system preferences..."
diff -u "$before_dir/user_global_defaults.plist" "$after_dir/user_global_defaults.plist" | sed '/^\s*$/d'
diff -u "$before_dir/system_global_defaults.plist" "$after_dir/system_global_defaults.plist" | sed '/^\s*$/d'

diff -u "$before_dir/user_system_defaults.plist" "$after_dir/user_system_defaults.plist" | sed '/^\s*$/d'
diff -u "$before_dir/system_system_defaults.plist" "$after_dir/system_system_defaults.plist" | sed '/^\s*$/d'

echo "Comparing Domain Specific"
# Domain-specific diffs
for domain in $domains; do
    # Only run diff if both user-specific files exist
    if [ -f "$before_dir/${domain}_user_defaults.plist" ] && [ -f "$after_dir/${domain}_user_defaults.plist" ]; then
        
        #echo "Comparing user-specific defaults for domain: $domain"
        diff -u "$before_dir/${domain}_user_defaults.plist" "$after_dir/${domain}_user_defaults.plist" | sed '/^\s*$/d'
    fi

    # Only run diff if both system-wide files exist
    if [ -f "$before_dir/${domain}_system_defaults.plist" ] && [ -f "$after_dir/${domain}_system_defaults.plist" ]; then
        #echo "Comparing system-wide defaults for domain: $domain"
        diff -u "$before_dir/${domain}_system_defaults.plist" "$after_dir/${domain}_system_defaults.plist" | sed '/^\s*$/d'
    fi
done

diff -u "$before_dir/network_settings.plist" "$after_dir/network_settings.plist" | sed '/^\s*$/d'

# Step 7: Clean up temporary files (optional, currently commented out)
#log "Cleaning up temporary files..."
#run_command sudo rm -r "$before_dir" "$after_dir"

echo "Comparison complete."
Code language: Bash (bash)

This will basically do a scan of all defaults settings it can find, wait for you to make changes, and then show you a diff of what has changed.

For a bad example, I wanted to auto hide the dock:

$ bash default-changes.sh
Reading user-specific global preferences...
Reading system-wide global preferences...
Reading user-specific system preferences...
Reading system-wide system preferences...
Reading defaults for all domains...
Capturing network settings...
Current preferences saved. Please make your changes now.
Press any key to continue once you've made the changes...
Reading updated user-specific global preferences...
Reading updated system-wide global preferences...
Reading updated user-specific system preferences...
Reading updated system-wide system preferences...
Reading updated defaults for all domains...
Capturing updated network settings...
Comparing preferences and generating diffs...
Comparing global and system preferences...
--- /tmp/before_defaults/user_system_defaults.plist	2024-09-30 21:23:17.183140919 -0400
+++ /tmp/after_defaults/user_system_defaults.plist	2024-09-30 21:23:45.721177080 -0400
@@ -95,9 +95,9 @@
     };
     ContextStoreAgent =     {
         "_DKThrottledActivityLast_DKKnowledgeStorageLogging_DKKnowledgeStorageDidInsertEventsNotification:/app/mediaUsageActivityDate" = "2024-08-15 01:49:34 +0000";
-        "_DKThrottledActivityLast_DKKnowledgeStorageLogging_DKKnowledgeStorageDidInsertEventsNotification:/app/usageActivityDate" = "2024-10-01 01:22:53 +0000";
+        "_DKThrottledActivityLast_DKKnowledgeStorageLogging_DKKnowledgeStorageDidInsertEventsNotification:/app/usageActivityDate" = "2024-10-01 01:23:42 +0000";
         "_DKThrottledActivityLast_DKKnowledgeStorageLogging_DKKnowledgeStorageDidInsertLocalEventsNotification:/app/mediaUsageActivityDate" = "2024-08-15 01:49:34 +0000";
-        "_DKThrottledActivityLast_DKKnowledgeStorageLogging_DKKnowledgeStorageDidInsertLocalEventsNotification:/app/usageActivityDate" = "2024-10-01 01:22:53 +0000";
+        "_DKThrottledActivityLast_DKKnowledgeStorageLogging_DKKnowledgeStorageDidInsertLocalEventsNotification:/app/usageActivityDate" = "2024-10-01 01:23:42 +0000";
     };
     LighthouseBitacoraFramework =     {
         "lastAggregationDate_MLHost" = "2024-08-31 00:00:00 +0000";
@@ -6998,6 +6998,7 @@
         );
     };
     "com.apple.dock" =     {
+        autohide = 1;
         "last-analytics-stamp" =         (
             "748840077.891269"
         );
@@ -12104,7 +12105,7 @@
             "com.apple.photolibraryd.curatedlibraryprocessing" = "2024-09-30 11:58:18 +0000";
             "com.apple.photolibraryd.periodicmaintenance" = "2024-09-29 18:28:19 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalIntelligence.PersonalIntelligenceMetrics" = "2024-09-29 14:29:35 +0000";
-            "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.ClientLinkStatus" = "2024-09-22 01:54:07 +0000";
+            "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.ClientLinkStatus" = "2024-10-04 09:16:11 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.ContactHandlesCache" = "2024-09-29 23:56:51 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.ContactsImport" = "2024-09-29 23:57:21 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.CoreRoutineImport" = "2024-09-29 23:56:50 +0000";
@@ -12115,11 +12116,11 @@
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.ExpiredLinkReview" = "2024-09-29 23:57:21 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.FeedbackProcessing" = "2024-09-29 23:56:50 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.FeedbackStreamReviewed" = "2024-09-29 23:56:51 +0000";
-            "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.LinkStatusGeneration" = "2024-09-22 01:54:07 +0000";
+            "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.LinkStatusGeneration" = "2024-10-04 09:16:11 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.LogLocationPerplexity" = "2024-09-29 23:54:27 +0000";
-            "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.LogNamedEntityFirstSource" = "2024-09-22 01:54:07 +0000";
+            "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.LogNamedEntityFirstSource" = "2024-10-04 09:16:11 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.LogNamedEntityPerplexity" = "2024-09-29 23:56:52 +0000";
-            "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.LogTopicFirstSource" = "2024-09-22 01:54:07 +0000";
+            "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.LogTopicFirstSource" = "2024-10-04 09:16:11 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.LogTopicPerplexity" = "2024-09-29 23:57:22 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.MapsImport" = "2024-09-29 23:57:22 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.NamedEntityFiltering" = "2024-09-29 23:57:22 +0000";
@@ -12136,7 +12137,7 @@
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.TopicImport" = "2024-09-26 17:42:30 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.TopicRepairAndExport" = "2024-09-26 17:45:06 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.UnsupportedClient" = "2024-09-29 23:57:21 +0000";
-            "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.VacuumDatabase" = "2024-09-22 01:54:07 +0000";
+            "com.apple.proactive.PersonalizationPortrait.VacuumDatabase" = "2024-10-04 09:16:11 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.ProactiveHarvesting.Cleanup" = "2024-09-29 14:29:35 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactive.ProactiveHarvesting.Harvest.PeriodicBackground" = "2024-09-29 21:54:28 +0000";
             "com.apple.proactived.contextualactions.training" = "2024-09-28 03:57:02 +0000";
--- /tmp/before_defaults/system_system_defaults.plist	2024-09-30 21:23:17.281165387 -0400
+++ /tmp/after_defaults/system_system_defaults.plist	2024-09-30 21:23:45.810771555 -0400
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@
             "501:com.apple.mlhost.telemetry.daily" = "2024-09-26 21:59:29 +0000";
             "501:com.apple.mlhostd.daily" = "2024-09-28 08:35:02 +0000";
             "501:com.apple.parsec.SafariBrowsingAssistant" = "2024-09-27 02:53:00 +0000";
-            "501:com.apple.photoanalysisd.backgroundanalysis" = "2024-09-30 20:14:26 +0000";
+            "501:com.apple.photoanalysisd.backgroundanalysis" = "2024-10-01 00:02:14 +0000";
             "501:com.apple.photoanalysisd.graphNonIntensiveTasks" = "2024-09-30 20:20:03 +0000";
             "501:com.apple.photoanalysisd.internal" = "2024-09-15 01:53:51 +0000";
             "501:com.apple.photoanalysisd.music" = "2024-09-30 17:05:59 +0000";
@@ -2312,7 +2312,7 @@
         LastOSLaunchVersion = 24A335;
         "baseDate.LocalBeaconingManager" = "2023-06-01 15:07:33 +0000";
         lastAttemptDate = "2024-08-15 01:48:08 +0000";
-        lastFinderAttemptDate = "2024-10-01 01:23:05 +0000";
+        lastFinderAttemptDate = "2024-10-01 01:23:36 +0000";
         lastFinderPublishDates =         {
             batteryWiFi =             (
                 "2024-09-21 01:07:39 +0000",
@@ -3859,7 +3859,7 @@
             "com.apple.awdd.publication" = "2024-09-29 18:17:55 +0000";
             "com.apple.awdd.trigger:0x7f004:86400:2" = "2024-09-28 13:31:28 +0000";
             "com.apple.awdd.trigger:0x7f006:14400:2" = "2024-09-30 05:24:18 +0000";
-            "com.apple.backupd-auto" = "2024-10-01 01:08:37 +0000";
+            "com.apple.backupd-auto" = "2024-10-01 01:38:37 +0000";
             "com.apple.backupd-auto.dryspell" = "2024-09-28 01:22:46 +0000";
             "com.apple.backupd.analytics" = "2024-09-28 05:36:06 +0000";
             "com.apple.biome.prune-expired-events" = "2024-09-28 03:56:23 +0000";
Comparing Domain Specific
Comparison complete.Code language: PHP (php)

You can see that there’s a lot of background noise, but in there is what I was looking for: com.apple.dock and autohide = 1.

Now I can head over to macos-defaults.com and I can search for com.apple.doc and find the command to set the dock to auto hide.

defaults write com.apple.dock "autohide" -bool "true" && killall Dock

Thinking about it, this was probably a dumb example as it was easy to just go to macos-defaults.com and search for “autohide” to find it.

Well, any way do what you want with this stupid thing.

September 30, 2024

More Garbage Sysadmin: Reboot Linux Server on Kernel Panic
Just like restarting a server when the memory is low, I’ve had a recent problem with kernel panics on my Raspberry Pi, and I’ve found a terrible solution to fix it: Just reboot.

Setting the /proc/sys/kernel/panic file contents to a non-zero integer will reboot the server on kernel panic after that many seconds.

Because I’m lazy, I asked ChatGPT to write me up a startup script to do this for me, and here’s what I have now:
To set the panic timeout value on Ubuntu Server 20.04 and later versions, you can create a systemd service unit file.

Here are the steps to create a systemd service unit file:
1. Open a terminal window on your Ubuntu Server.
2. Create a new service unit file with the following command:
  
  sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/panic-timeout.service
  
  This will open a new file named panic-timeout.service in the nano text editor with superuser privileges.
3. Add the following lines to the file:
```
[Unit]
Description=Panic Timeout

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c "echo 60 > /proc/sys/kernel/panic"

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
```
This service unit file sets the panic timeout to 60 seconds.
1. Save the file by pressing Ctrl+O, then exit nano by pressing Ctrl+X.
2. Reload the systemd daemon to recognize the new service unit file with the following command:
  
  sudo systemctl daemon-reload
3. Enable the service unit file to run at boot time with the following command:
  
  sudo systemctl enable panic-timeout.service
4. Reboot the server to test the service unit file. After the server reboots, the panic-timeout.service will automatically run the echo command and set the panic timeout to 60 seconds.
That’s it! With these steps, you can set the panic timeout value on the latest versions of Ubuntu Server.
Well there you have it! Don’t forget to follow along for more terrible ideas!
March 8, 2023

Bad Hack: Restart Linux Server when memory is low 😬

I’m running something on my Raspberry Pi server that’s got a memory leak. I think it’s related to my Software Defined Radio (more on that another day), but I’m too lazy to actually track it down and fix it, so I’ve implemented the below hack to just restart my server when memory gets too low.

#!/bin/bash
FREE_SWAP=$(free | grep Swap | awk '{print $4/$2 * 100.0}')
FREE_MEM=$(free | grep Mem | awk '{print $7/$2 * 100.0}')

if [ -t 1 ]; then
        echo "Free mem: ${FREE_MEM}%, Free swap: ${FREE_SWAP}%"
fi

if [ 1 -gt "${FREE_SWAP%.*}" ]; then
        echo "[$(date)] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT $FREE_SWAP, CHECKING MEM"
        if [ 5 -gt "${FREE_MEM%.*}" ]; then
                echo "[$(date)] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT $FREE_SWAP, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT $FREE_MEM -- RESTARTING"
                reboot
        fi
fi

if [ 1 -gt "${FREE_MEM%.*}" ]; then
        echo "[$(date)] MEM IS TOO LOW! AT $FREE_MEM -- RESTARTING"
        reboot
fiCode language: PHP (php)

If the free swap memory gets below 1%, we check physical memory. If physical memory is below 5%, we reboot.

We also do a general check on physical memory, and if it ever gets below 1%, we reboot.

So far, this has been working out well. I’ve thrown it in a cron to run every five minutes:

# Check memory every five minutes and reboot if too low
*/5 * * * * /usr/local/bin/memcheck >> /var/log/memcheck.logCode language: PHP (php)

You can see, checking my log, the number of times it’s saved my butt from having to fix a frozen machine:

$ cat /var/log/memcheck.log | ack RESTARTING
[Mon Feb  7 03:20:02 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.44943 -- RESTARTING
[Tue Feb 15 03:15:33 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 3.79613 -- RESTARTING
[Mon Feb 21 14:30:01 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 2.31316 -- RESTARTING
[Sun Feb 27 01:40:01 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.02053 -- RESTARTING
[Mon Mar  7 00:05:01 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.95096 -- RESTARTING
[Wed Mar  9 00:55:01 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.81816 -- RESTARTING
[Wed Mar  9 17:50:02 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.72946 -- RESTARTING
[Tue Mar 15 04:10:01 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.79014 -- RESTARTING
[Sun Mar 20 16:20:01 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.95519 -- RESTARTING
[Fri Mar 25 14:10:02 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.98074 -- RESTARTING
[Tue Mar 29 15:05:01 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 1.63566 -- RESTARTING
[Tue Apr  5 16:55:01 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.44242 -- RESTARTING
[Fri Apr  8 01:40:55 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 1.23014 -- RESTARTING
[Fri Apr  8 01:56:41 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 1.00451 -- RESTARTING
[Mon Apr 11 03:15:02 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 3.76512 -- RESTARTING
[Thu Apr 14 17:45:03 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 2.02634 -- RESTARTING
[Wed Apr 27 17:15:02 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.55957 -- RESTARTING
[Fri Apr 29 14:55:02 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 3.96232 -- RESTARTING
[Mon May  2 11:00:02 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 2.62884 -- RESTARTING
[Sat May  7 11:50:01 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.97909 -- RESTARTING
[Wed May 11 08:00:02 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.83372 -- RESTARTING
[Tue May 31 15:00:02 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 3.5021 -- RESTARTING
[Thu Jun 16 00:20:02 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 2.98098 -- RESTARTING
[Tue Jul  5 16:10:08 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0.0030518, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.10944 -- RESTARTING
[Tue Aug  9 04:10:20 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 3.11883 -- RESTARTING
[Wed Aug 17 14:45:03 UTC 2022] SWAP IS TOO LOW! AT 0, MEM IS TOO LOW, AT 4.20299 -- RESTARTINGCode language: JavaScript (javascript)

September 1, 2022

Quick Tip: Looping a command in bash

I recently came across the need to watch my disk space while running a slow program to make sure I didn’t run out. If I did, the command would fail silently and I’d have to start over again.

This can easily be done with this short snippet:

watch -n10 bash -c "df -h | ack disk1s5"Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Every 10.0s: bash -c df -h | ack disk1s5                                                                                  mbp.local: Mon Jul 20 15:09:51 2020

/dev/disk1s5           488245288  10940872 144033352     8%   488237 4881964643    0%   /

The important part here is disk1s5, which is the device file for the partition I wanted to watch. If you need to find this, it can be done simply by running the df as a whole:

$ df
Filesystem             1K-blocks      Used Available Capacity  iused      ifree %iused  Mounted on
/dev/disk1s5           488245288  10940872 144035124     8%   488237 4881964643    0%   /
devfs                        191       191         0   100%      662          0  100%   /dev
/dev/disk1s1           488245288 331456068 144035124    70%  1379027 4881073853    0%   /System/Volumes/Data
/dev/disk1s4           488245288   1048596 144035124     1%        1 4882452879    0%   /private/var/vm
map auto_home                  0         0         0   100%        0          0  100%   /System/Volumes/Data/home
/dev/disk1s3           488245288    516448 144035124     1%       48 4882452832    0%   /Volumes/RecoveryCode language: PHP (php)

That is all.

Photo by Wendy Wei from Pexels

July 20, 2020

Quick Tip: HyperDock as a Service

HyperDock, a macOS tool that provides windows previews like modern versions of Windows, seems to have problems on macOS Catalina for me. At random times, it will stop working and I need to go to System Preferences and disable and re-enable it; sometimes many times a day.

I’ve tried contacting the author and so far I’ve not gotten any response. The last update was quite a while ago, and … just radio silence.

To help fix this, I’ve fiddled around enough to figure out what program to run to get HyperDock to work again, and have built a really janky daemon for it using a Login Item.

I have this script that runs every time I log in, which will (re)start the HyperDock Helper, and restart it every time it dies:

#/bin/zsh
until "/Users/username/Library/PreferencePanes/HyperDock.prefpane/Contents/Resources/HyperDock Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/HyperDock Helper"; do
	echo "HyperDock Helper crashed with exit code $?.  Respawning.." >&2 | tee /Users/username/.hh.log
	sleep 1
doneCode language: PHP (php)

and it works…

2020-02-28 23:43:32.201 HyperDock Helper[11165:524120] de.bahoom.HyperDock-Helper 1.8 (1.8.0) starting ...
2020-02-28 23:43:32.282 HyperDock Helper[11165:524120] AXIsProcessTrusted: 1
2020-02-28 23:43:32.385 HyperDock Helper[11165:524120] Can't find app with identifier com.apple.iTunes
2020-02-28 23:43:40.262 HyperDock Helper[11165:524212] Couldn't find wid for axw (null)
2020-02-28 23:43:41.364 HyperDock Helper[11165:524125] Couldn't find wid for axw (null)
2020-02-28 23:44:01.464 HyperDock Helper[11165:524120] uneven contentView size: {427, 202}
2020-02-28 23:44:01.464 HyperDock Helper[11165:524120] uneven mainViewBounds size: {427, 202}
./hyperdock-helper.sh: line 5: 11165 Terminated: 15          "/Users/username/Library/PreferencePanes/HyperDock.prefpane/Contents/Resources/HyperDock Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/HyperDock Helper"
HyperDock Helper crashed with exit code 143.  Respawning..
2020-02-28 23:44:37.091 HyperDock Helper[11177:524717] de.bahoom.HyperDock-Helper 1.8 (1.8.0) starting ...
2020-02-28 23:44:37.169 HyperDock Helper[11177:524717] AXIsProcessTrusted: 1
2020-02-28 23:44:37.275 HyperDock Helper[11177:524717] Can't find app with identifier com.apple.iTunesCode language: PHP (php)

Hopefully this might help someone else that has the same problem that’s been bothering me for months 🙂

March 8, 2020

Disabling WordPress Faux Cron
The WordPress WP-Cron system is a decently okay faux cron system, but it has its problems, such as running on frontend requests and not running if no requests are coming through.

WP-Cron works by: on every page load, a list of scheduled tasks is checked to see what needs to be run. Any tasks scheduled to be run will be run during that page load. WP-Cron does not run constantly as the system cron does; it is only triggered on page load. Scheduling errors could occur if you schedule a task for 2:00PM and no page loads occur until 5:00PM.
From the WordPress Plugin Handbook

These are problems because:
- A heavy cron event can cause severe slowdown on random frontend requests, hurting page speeds.
- Not running without requests can be bad for sites that are infrequently updated and heavily cached.
The solution to this is to disable the built-in cron firing that’s done with pageviews, and use a system cron (or other service) to poll for cron events.

Disabling the cron firing is done by adding this to the wp-config.php file:
```
define( 'DISABLE_WP_CRON', true );Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
```
For this site specifically, I use the “Cron Jobs” system of DreamHost to run this WP-CLI command every 10 minutes:
```
wp cron event run --due-now --path=/path/to/derrick.blog/ --url=https://derrick.blog/Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
```
This forces the cron to run and check for ready jobs every 10 minutes. It’s possible that some cron events might run later than they “should” but in practice, I’ve seen this running more cron jobs than if I relied on page loads.
June 27, 2018