How to modify the launchctl config to start Postfix?

App & System Services Core OS
dazuelos OP
Created 3d
Replies 2
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Participants 3

On Sequoia, I want to configure my postfix as a server. And for this I have to change the way postfix is started from:

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.postfix.master.plist

But this file is on the read only / file system.

Then I just unloaded this startup, and made a new one in:

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.postfix.master.plist

and I was able to start it.

But on the next system boot, the system one in

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons

was started again.

How should I cleanly and permanently achieve this server basic modification?

Answered by DTS Engineer in 877047022

I want to clarify the overall situation here.

The Apple Developer Forums are primarily focused on helping developers with Apple APIs, developer tools, and so on. We’re not really set up to help folks with ‘user-level’ questions, even those from advanced users like yourself. For that, I recommend that you bounce over to Apple Support Community, run by Apple Support, and specifically the Business and Education areas.

Questions like this fall into two categories:

  • Developers who are trying to create products based on macOS’s built-in services.
  • Users who are trying to configure those services.

From a developer perspective, the presence of built-in services, in this case Postfix, is considered an implementation detail, not an API. If you want to build a product that runs a mail server, you should embed your own copy of Postfix rather than relying on the built-in one. And if you want to run that as a daemon, it will naturally have a different launchd job label.

From a user perspective, it’s fine to use these built-in tools for your own purposes, but be aware that:

  • They can and do change in ways in incompatible ways.
  • They might also not change, in ways that leave you missing out on new features or potentially expose you to security vulnerabilities.

IMO it’s better to manage your own copy this stuff via a package manager, such as Homebrew, than to live with what’s built in.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Replies  2
Boosts  0
Views  55
Participants  3
Etresoft OP
3d

Just change the label in your customized version and then change the configuration to use a different value for QueueDirectories. Then, when your directory gets modified, it will launch your custom process, not the system one.

0
DTS Engineer OP
Apple
22h
Recommended

I want to clarify the overall situation here.

The Apple Developer Forums are primarily focused on helping developers with Apple APIs, developer tools, and so on. We’re not really set up to help folks with ‘user-level’ questions, even those from advanced users like yourself. For that, I recommend that you bounce over to Apple Support Community, run by Apple Support, and specifically the Business and Education areas.

Questions like this fall into two categories:

  • Developers who are trying to create products based on macOS’s built-in services.
  • Users who are trying to configure those services.

From a developer perspective, the presence of built-in services, in this case Postfix, is considered an implementation detail, not an API. If you want to build a product that runs a mail server, you should embed your own copy of Postfix rather than relying on the built-in one. And if you want to run that as a daemon, it will naturally have a different launchd job label.

From a user perspective, it’s fine to use these built-in tools for your own purposes, but be aware that:

  • They can and do change in ways in incompatible ways.
  • They might also not change, in ways that leave you missing out on new features or potentially expose you to security vulnerabilities.

IMO it’s better to manage your own copy this stuff via a package manager, such as Homebrew, than to live with what’s built in.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

0
How to modify the launchctl config to start Postfix?
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