launchctl bootout on macOS Sonoma is failing with EIO = "Input/output error"

Question

My macOS app stopped working on macOS 14.4.1 (Kernel: Darwin v.23.4.0), or "Sonoma". I started looking into it, and it turns out that when I try to remove my launch agent:

/bin/launchctl bootout gui/501 /Library/LaunchAgents/com.company.name.plist

launchctl fails for bootout with error code 5, or EIO = "Input/output error"

Is it something new to Sonoma, or what is the issue there? It used to work on previous versions of macOS.

Note that the Mach-O executable for the launch agent is properly signed and notarized with the Apple portal.

The .plist in question goes as such:

<?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>com.company.name.launch.agent</key>
    <true/>
    <key>LimitLoadToSessionType</key>
    <array>
        <string>LoginWindow</string>
        <string>Aqua</string>
    </array>
    <key>Disabled</key>
    <false/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.company.name</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.company/name</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>-a</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Philippe · Accepted Answer · 2024-03-29 23:25:42Z

5

Try to unload first :

/bin/launchctl unload /Library/LaunchAgents/com.company.name.plist

answered Mar 29, 2024 at 23:25

Philippe

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3 Comments

c00000fd Over a year ago

Thanks. I'm wondering, is it something that they introduced in Sonoma, or was I doing it wrong before?

Charlie Patton Jul 16 at 19:48

It's actually the opposite. launchctl load | unload are both deprecated. They still work but the more modern way is to use bootstrap/bootout. I'm trying to get used to the new way but I've found it to be much more fiddly.

Philippe Over a year ago

@c00000fd Did this fix the problem? If yes, feel free to accept the answer.

Roman · Accepted Answer · 2024-07-20 23:01:03Z

3

Alternatively you can do the following:

Lists information about services. In Terminal:

/bin/launchctl list

Find the mongodb service by search of the list by the word mongodb. In my case it was homebrew.mxcl.mongodb-community
Unload the specified service name. In Terminal:

/bin/launchctl remove homebrew.mxcl.mongodb-community

edited Jul 20, 2024 at 23:01

answered Jul 20, 2024 at 14:54

Roman

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Comments

Greg Anderson · Accepted Answer · 2024-11-17 16:32:30Z

1

Make sure your plist file (/Library/LaunchAgents/com.company.name.plist) has ownership root:wheel.

answered Nov 17, 2024 at 16:32

Greg Anderson

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1 Comment

kev Jan 9 at 9:35

simple but crucial point

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