Exited with code: 1 Error with launchd

Question

I am trying to run a job with launchd which runs a shell script that creates a zip file I then backup.

I am receiving the error: 6/26/13 5:04:37.992 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[162]: (com.ian.evernote[18163]) Exited with code: 1

Here is my launchd 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>Label</key>
    <string>com.ian.evernote</string>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <dict>
        <key>SuccessfulExit</key>
        <false/>
    </dict>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/user/Dropbox/evernote.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartInterval</key>
    <integer>3600</integer>

    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Here is my shell script:

#!/bin/bash

sudo zip -r ~/Documents/evernote_backup /Users/user/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote/Data/Library

The shell script runs fine from the terminal. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

You cannot execute sudo inside the script. Who's going to enter the password? Why do you need this in the first place? It looks like you are operating inside your home folder where you should have all the permissions you want.

There are two solutions.

• You need elevated privileges

Make this job a launch daemon instead of an agent. Make sure you change the paths to absolute ones (~ will expand to the executing users home directory, which is / for launch daemons).

• You're fine with standard privileges

Don't use sudo.

Also: As the script consists of a single line I'd suggest to drop the script and call zip directly:

<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
    <string>/usr/bin/zip</string>
    <string>-r</string>
    <string>/Users/user/Documents/evernote_backup</string>
    <string>/Users/user/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote/Data/Library</string>
</array>