Question

I have been looking for a way to launch daemons on the iPhone and I created a little test application with Xcode by learning from the ants application‘s source code, which taught me that I should use launchctl But unfortunately it is not working.

I have installed my application with SSH on my iPod Touch in /Applications/, I then launch it with SSH thru the account mobile and my log says this:

Script started on Thu Feb 24 19:33:28 2011
bash-3.2$ ssh mobile@192.168.1.8
mobile@192.168.1.8's password: 
iPod-van-Henri:~ mobile$ cd /Applications
iPod-van-Henri:/Applications mobile$ cd DaemonUtility.app/
iPod-van-Henri:/Applications/DaemonUtility.app mobile$ ./DaemonUtility 
2011-02-24 19:35:08.022 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:09.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:10.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:11.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
Bug: launchctl.c:2367 (24307):13: (dbfd = open(g_job_overrides_db_path, O_RDONLY | O_EXLOCK | O_CREAT, S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR)) != -1
launchctl: CFURLWriteDataAndPropertiesToResource(/private/var/stash/Applications.pwn/DaemonUtility.app/com.developerief2.daemontest.plist) failed: -10
launch_msg(): Socket is not connected
2011-02-24 19:35:12.039 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:13.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:14.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:15.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:16.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:17.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:18.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:19.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:20.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:21.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:22.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:23.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:24.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
2011-02-24 19:35:25.021 DaemonUtility[1369:107] Read 0 bytes
^C
iPod-van-Henri:/Applications/DaemonUtility.app mobile$ exit
logout
Connection to 192.168.1.8 closed.

bash-3.2$ exit
exit

Script done on Thu Feb 24 19:34:49 2011

When I launch it with the root (doing it with su), I get the daemon to run, but it doesn’t do anything.

My daemon should display a UIViewAlert every ten seconds since it’s launch:

**main.m (Daemon)**
//
//  main.m
//  DaemonTest
//
//  Created by ief2 on 23/02/11.
//

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface DAAppDelegate : NSObject <UIApplicationDelegate> {
    NSDate *_startupDate;
    NSTimer *_messageTimer;
}
@property (nonatomic, retain) NSDate *startupDate;
@end

@interface DAAppDelegate (PrivateMethods)
- (void)showMessage:(NSTimer *)timer;
@end

@implementation DAAppDelegate
@synthesize startupDate=_startupDate;

- (void)dealloc {
    [_startupDate dealloc];
    [_messageTimer dealloc];

    [super dealloc];
}

- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(UIApplication *)theApplication {
    UIAlertView *myView;
    myView = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Daemon Launched" 
                                        message:@"The daemon was launched"
                                       delegate:nil
                              cancelButtonTitle:@"OK"
                              otherButtonTitles:nil];
    [myView show];
    [myView release];

    self.startupDate = [NSDate date];

    NSTimer *myTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:10 
                                                        target:self
                                                      selector:@selector(showMessage:) 
                                                      userInfo:nil
                                                       repeats:YES];
    _messageTimer = [myTimer retain];
}

- (void)applicationWillTerminate:(UIApplication *)theApplication {
    [_messageTimer invalidate];

    UIAlertView *myView;
    myView = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Daemon Terminated" 
                                        message:@"The daemon was terminated"
                                       delegate:nil
                              cancelButtonTitle:@"OK"
                              otherButtonTitles:nil];
    [myView show];
    [myView release];
}

- (void)showMessage:(NSTimer *)timer {
    NSTimeInterval mySec;
    mySec = [self.startupDate timeIntervalSinceNow];
    NSString *format = [NSString stringWithFormat:
                        @"The daemon has been running for %llu seconds",
                        (unsigned long long)mySec];
    UIAlertView *myView;
    myView = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Daemon Message" 
                                        message:format 
                                       delegate:nil 
                              cancelButtonTitle:@"OK" 
                              otherButtonTitles:nil];
    [myView show];
    [myView release];
}
@end


int main(int argc, const char **argv) {
    NSAutoreleasePool *mainPool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];

    UIApplicationMain(argc, (char **)argv, nil, @"DAAppDelegate");

    [mainPool drain];
    return 0;
}

The full application’s source code can be found on my computer:
http://81.82.20.197/DaemonTest.zip

Thank you in advance,
ief2

Answer 1

You are working too hard. All you need to do is create a .plist file with the app identifier and path in it and add it to the /System/Library/LaunchDaemon folder. Then make sure your app is in the /Applications folder. Reboot and it will work each time the phone is booted.

Google “Chris Alvares daemon” and look at his tutorial…