Yosemite DP1 Removes SystemStarter

This was to be expected, but Yosemite DP1 no longer includes:

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.SystemStarter.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>KeepAlive</key>
	<dict>
		<key>PathState</key>
		<dict>
			<key>/etc/rc.local</key>
			<true/>
			<key>/etc/rc.shutdown.local</key>
			<true/>
		</dict>
	</dict>
	<key>Label</key>
	<string>com.apple.SystemStarter</string>
	<key>Program</key>
	<string>/sbin/SystemStarter</string>
	<key>QueueDirectories</key>
	<array>
		<string>/Library/StartupItems</string>
		<string>/System/Library/StartupItems</string>
	</array>
</dict>
</plist>

The executable /sbin/SystemStarter is also removed, of course, and thus now you have to write LaunchAgents (per-user session) or LaunchDaemons (system-wide) scripts/applications because /etc/rc.local and /etc/rc.shutdown.local are no longer executed. I like this cleanup. Fully in line with Apple’s plan to depreciate StartupItems:

Deprecation Note: Startup items are a deprecated technology. Launching of daemons through this process may be removed or eliminated in a future release of OS X.

Maybe this is just a start and can we expect more cleanups, but for now… let’s just wait and see what the next developer preview brings. At least now you know why your rc.local and/or rc.shutdown.local scripts aren’t working anymore. Time to write that plist.

Tip
See man launchd and man launchctl for tips like where to put your plist.

~/Library/LaunchAgents Per-user agents provided by the user.
/Library/LaunchAgents Per-user agents provided by the administrator.
/Library/LaunchDaemons System wide daemons provided by the administrator.
/System/Library/LaunchAgents Mac OS X Per-user agents.
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons Mac OS X System wide daemons.

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