Where is Dropbox started in Mac OS X?

Question

If I look at the Dropbox process, I see that its parent is /sbin/launchd. But I can't find any plist file in any of the standard directories (e.g. /System/Library, /Library, ~/Library + LaunchAgents, LaunchDaemons) which reference Dropbox. So where is it started?

The reason I ask is that I want to change the umask under which the Dropbox process is run (per this question) instead of having to kill and restart it.

Update: If I run launchctl list | grep -i dropbox I see com.getdropbox.dropbox.#### and if I run launchctl -x com.getdropbox.dropbox.#### it outputs a plist file with the same label, but I have done a find across the entire filesystem and this file does not appear.

Answer 1

Dropbox is started as a login item. These are stored in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist but this plist is a binary file. However, there is nothing here but the application to run. Removing the application from the login items from System Preferences is sufficient to prevent it from being auto-run, at which point a new launchctl plist can be created to run a script to start Dropbox with the desired umask. Also, the Dropbox preferences (from the dropdown menu) must be modified to disable running dropbox on "system startup" or else it will re-add itself to the login items whenever it is run.

Answer 2

Try these locations for startup automatically launched apps and delete any you don't want at launch:

System Preferences > Accounts > yourusername > Login Items
(Lion and ML users: System Preferences > Users & Groups > yourusername > Login Items)

/Library/LaunchAgents/
(Lion and ML users: In Finder, click Go > Go to Folder > then enter the path above)

~/Library/LaunchAgents/
(Lion and ML users: In Finder, click Go > Go to Folder > then enter the path above)

/Library/StartupItems/
(Lion and ML users: In Finder, click Go > Go to Folder > then enter the path above)