Apple Notes

Downloads for Apple Developers

https://developer.apple.com/download/more/

Keyboard Shortcuts

There are many useful keyboard shortcuts that I've come across over time, and I try to include them here so they don't get forgotten.

Open Finder

OPTION + COMMAND + SPACE

Resource: https://www.howtogeek.com/661251/how-to-open-finder-with-a-keyboard-shortcut-on-mac/#:~:text=Luckily%2C you can open Finder,window for quick file searches.

Open Spotlight

COMMAND + SPACE

Maximize window

COMMAND + TAB to highlight the minimized window you want to maximize.

Before releasing the COMMAND button, hit the OPTION button (ALT on a windows keyboard).

Resource: https://superuser.com/questions/196141/keyboard-shortcut-to-unhide-or-unminimize-a-window-in-os-x

Put mac to sleep

OPTION + COMMAND + POWER

Put display to sleep

CTRL + SHIFT + POWER

Resource: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

Jump to URL bar in Chrome

COMMAND + L

Resource:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/11573/chrome-keyboard-shortcut-to-go-to-address-bar

Show hidden files and folders in Finder

CMD + SHIFT + .

Resource:
https://ianlunn.co.uk/articles/quickly-showhide-hidden-files-mac-os-x-mavericks/

Go to folder in Finder

CMD + SHIFT + G

Resource:
https://blog.bejarano.io/fixing-cron-jobs-in-mojave.html

Lock Screen

CTRL + CMD + Q

Mirror display (or stop mirroring)

CMD + F1

OSX Terminal Stuff

Highlight text

Hold OPTION + COMMAND and select the text you want with your mouse.

SSH

Check ssh service status

sudo systemsetup -getremotelogin

Enable SSH

sudo systemsetup -setremotelogin on

Disable SSH

sudo systemsetup -setremotelogin off

Resource: http://osxdaily.com/2016/08/16/enable-ssh-mac-command-line/

Disable screensharing

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.screensharing.plist

Create account

sudo dscl . -create /Users/niceuser
sudo dscl . -create /Users/niceuser UserShell /bin/bash
sudo dscl . -create /Users/niceuser RealName "Super Nice Guy"   
sudo dscl . -create /Users/niceuser UniqueID *unique id*
sudo dscl . -create /Users/niceuser PrimaryGroupID 80 # Make user part of Admin group
sudo dscl . -passwd /Users/niceuser
sudo dscl . -append /Groups/admin GroupMembership niceuser

You can create a home directory for the user if you'd like as well:
sudo mkdir /Users/niceuser

Resources:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/add-user-terminal-mac-os-x-screen-sharing-31846.html
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8248721

Remove account

sudo dscl . -delete /Users/niceuser

Delete the home directory if you created it:
sudo rm -rf /Users/niceuser

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/310308/delete-a-standard-user-from-mac-os

List users

sudo dscl . list /Users | grep -v "^_"

Take screenshot

Output to /var/tmp/.tmp

screencapture -x /var/tmp/.tmp

Get version of OSX Running

sw_vers -productVersion

Resource: https://www.tecmint.com/send-a-message-to-logged-users-in-linux-terminal/

Mount NFS share

sudo mkdir /mnt/name_of_system_folder
sudo mount -t nfs -o rsize=65536,wsize=65536,intr,hard,tcp,locallocks,rdirplus,readahead=128 system.com:<path to volume mount> /mnt/name_of_system_folder

Resources:
https://care.qumulo.com/hc/en-us/articles/115008111268-Recommended-NFS-Mount-Options
https://willhaley.com/blog/mount-nfs-share-on-a-mac/

Unmount NFS share

sudo umount -Af -t nfs,smbfs

Resources:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/292043/how-to-unmount-nfs-when-server-is-gone
https://superuser.com/questions/249611/how-to-forceably-unmount-stuck-network-share-in-mac-os-x

Automount an NFS share in /Volumes

https://gist.github.com/L422Y/8697518

SSHFS

Install:

brew cask install osxfuse
brew install sshfs

Mount remote system:

mkdir /mnt/remote_system 
cd /mnt/remote_system
sudo sshfs -o allow_other,defer_permissions user@remote_system.com:/ /mnt/remote_system

Resources:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-sshfs-to-mount-remote-file-systems-over-ssh
https://howchoo.com/g/ymmxmzlmndb/how-to-install-sshfs

Creating plist files

Plist files can be used as an alternative to cron jobs. This specific example will run even if there are no users logged in.

This particular one will run a python script, not_evil.py every day at 3 am.

Create /Library/LaunchDaemons/not.evil.plist with this content:

<?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>not.evil</string>
    
    <key>Program</key>
        <string>/Users/notabackdooruser/not_evil.py</string>
    
    <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
        <string>/Users/notabackdooruser/</string>
    
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
        <dict>
            <key>Hour</key>
                <integer>3</integer>
            <key>Minute</key>
                <integer>0</integer>
        </dict>    

    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
        <dict>
	    <key>http_proxy</key>
	        <string>http://companyproxy.com:80</string>
        </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Make sure the file is owned by root (sudo chown root job.plist) and that wheel is set for the group (sudo chgrp wheel job.plist).

To load the file to the running daemons, run:

sudo launchctl load not.evil.plist

To remove the file from the running daemons, run:

sudo launchctl unload not.evil.plist

Another example

This will run the a bash script in the context of a specific user every minute. It will output the results to /Users/yourusername/brew-output.txt or /Users/yourusername/brew-errors.txt if there is an error in running the command.

To start, navigate to ~/Library/LaunchAgents and put this in a file called com.yourusername.job-name.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>EnvironmentVariables</key>
        <dict>
            <key>PATH</key>
            <string>/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:</string>
        </dict>

        <key>Label</key>
        <string>com.yourusername.job-name</string>

        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>bash</string>
            <string>-c</string>
            <string>/Users/yourusername/Library/LaunchAgents/bashscript.sh</string>
        </array>

        <key>StartInterval</key>
        <integer>60</integer>

        <key>StandardOutPath</key>
        <string>/Users/yourusername/brew-output.txt</string>

        <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
        <string>/Users/yourusername/brew-errors.txt</string>
    </dict>
</plist>

Follow this by adding the bash script to

/Users/yourusername/Library/LaunchAgents/bashscript.sh

and then running:

chmod +x /Users/yourusername/Library/LaunchAgents/bashscript.sh

With the plist and script in place, you can enable it with:

launchctl load com.yourusername.job-name.plist

and disable it with:

launchctl unload com.yourusername.job-name.plist

A complete example that automates brew updates for a user can be found here: https://gist.github.com/l50/884919db8c6819e73ebe2f50c6928fcc

Resources:
https://alvinalexander.com/mac-os-x/mac-osx-startup-crontab-launchd-jobs
https://medium.com/@chetcorcos/a-simple-launchd-tutorial-9fecfcf2dbb3

Run bash script on startup

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.yourusername.bashscript.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>EnvironmentVariables</key>
    <dict>
      <key>PATH</key>
      <string>/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:</string>
    </dict>

    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.yourusername.job-name</string>

    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/Users/yourusername/Library/LaunchAgents/bashscript.sh</string>

    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>

  </dict>
</plist>

Resources: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5gISXy0YwUMJ:https://devops.itsltns.io/2019/05/01/file-mounting+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Run every 6 hours

<key>StartInterval</key> 
<integer>21600</integer>

Resource: https://www.maketecheasier.com/use-launchd-run-scripts-on-schedule-macos/

Directory to run from

To specify which directory to run the job from:

<key>WorkingDirectory</key>
<string>/Users/yourname/demo</string>

Resource: https://medium.com/@chetcorcos/a-simple-launchd-tutorial-9fecfcf2dbb3

Debugging

Add these lines to your .plist file:

<!-- Log STDERR -->
<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
<string>/Users/yourusername/Library/Logs/come.yourusername.job-name-err.log</string>

<!-- Log STDOUT -->
<key>StandardOutPath</key>
<string>/Users/yourusername/Library/Logs/com.yourusername.job-name.log</string>

<!-- Run when the jobs is loaded -->
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>

Run this command to view the logs:

tail -f /var/log/system.log

Then run this to load the job:

launchctl load -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.yourusername.job-name.plist

and this to unload the job once you're done:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.yourusername.job-name.plist

Resources:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6337513/how-can-i-debug-a-launchd-script-that-doesnt-run-on-startup
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1370901/very-simple-launchd-plist-not-running-my-script

Avoid escaping characters

You may have characters in your plist that require you to escape them. For example:

<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
    <string>/usr/local/bin/bash</string>
    <string>runBgScript.sh&</string>
</array>

The & is problematic here. Instead of playing the escape all the things game, you can just do this instead:

<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
    <string>/usr/local/bin/bash</string>
    <string><![CDATA[runBgScript.sh&]]></string>
</array>

Resource: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3757817/plist-contains-the-character

Screen sharing via finder

  1. Open Finder
  2. Ctrl-k
  3. vnc://target_ip

Resource: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20100927085636535

Permission denied for creating cronjobs

  1. Give Full Disk Access to iterm (if you're using it) or terminal via these instructions
  2. Relaunch the terminal and run this command to test if the issue has been resolved: ls ~/Library/Messages

Resources:
https://serverfault.com/questions/954586/osx-mojave-crontab-tmp-tmp-x-operation-not-permitted
http://osxdaily.com/2018/10/09/fix-operation-not-permitted-terminal-error-macos/

You may need to do this bit of horribleness as well (obviously not ideal from a security standpoint):
https://blog.bejarano.io/fixing-cron-jobs-in-mojave.html

Store SSH Key in Keychain

ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/[your-private-key]

Resource:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/48502/how-can-i-permanently-add-my-ssh-private-key-to-keychain-so-it-is-automatically/250572#250572?newreg=1026a7ae1a72435ea5dca92ea1dbe053

Get CPU thread count

sysctl -a | grep cpu.thread_count | egrep -o '(\d+)'

Brew Notes

Install specific version of package

You can install a specific version of a package using @. For example, to install golang 1.12:

brew install go@1.12

Switch to another version of a package

brew install terraform@0.12
cp -rf /usr/local/Cellar/terraform@0.12/0.12.29 usr/local/Cellar/terraform/.
brew switch terraform 0.12.29

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/304024/how-do-you-install-an-older-version-of-postgres-9-6-using-homebrew

Update script

brew update; brew upgrade; brew cleanup

Fix permissions

Here's a one-liner:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib /usr/local/sbin && chmod u+w /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib /usr/local/sbin

Run Software Update via CLI

Update all

softwareupdate -i -a

Resource: https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/discussions/30828/softwareupdate-l-no-updates-found

Brewfile

Generate Brewfile with existing packages

brew bundle dump

Resource: https://www.caseyliss.com/2019/10/8/brew-bundle

Show reason for reboot

log show --predicate 'eventMessage contains "Previous shutdown cause"' --last 24h

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/321541/how-can-i-find-the-reason-for-my-macs-recent-restart

Kill all chrome processes

killall Google\ Chrome

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/158684/chrome-wont-quit-mac-yosemite

Capture output of running process

This would call for something like strace in linux, which is not available in OSX. Instead, we use dtrace:

capture() {
    sudo dtrace -p "$1" -qn '
        syscall::write*:entry
        /pid == $target && arg0 == 1/ {
            printf("%s", copyinstr(arg1, arg2));
        }
    '
}

Resource: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3425340/how-can-i-capture-the-stdout-from-a-process-that-is-already-running

Get SHA-256 hash of an application

shasum -a 256 <path to binary>
# For example, to get the SHA-256 of the Chromium binary:
shasum -a 256 /Applications/Chromium.app/Contents/MacOS/Chromium

Resource: https://medium.com/@EvgeniIvanov/how-to-verify-checksum-on-mac-988f166b0c4f#:~:text=Verifying SHA-256 checksum&text=Or you can type the command shasum -a 256 followed,the file to the Terminal.&text=Press Enter-,Wait a while and you should see the checksum on,%2Fto%2Fyour%2Ffile.

Fix Alt key in iterm

This is a great tutorial that covers the proces in depth:
https://dev.to/clairecodes/making-the-alt-key-work-in-iterm2-1aa9

Strike-through keyboard shortcut not working in Google Docs

This happens when Chrome Extensions claim the shortcut. Navigate to chrome://extensions/shortcuts and find which one is doing it. Once you've identified it, change that shortcut and the issue should be resolved.

Resource: https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/115418/google-docs-strike-through-shortcut-not-working-on-mac-in-chrome

Get ipv6 address

ifconfig en0

The value next to inet6 is your ipv6 address.

You can also:

  1. Click the Apple menu and select System Preferences
  2. Click Network
  3. Choose your connection type (Built-in Ethernet or AirPort) and click the Advanced button.
  4. Select the TCP⁄IP tab to display the IP address information

Resource: https://it.umn.edu/services-technologies/how-tos/ipv6-setup-guides-mac-os-x

Open all pdfs in CWD with default PDF app

for file in ./*.pdf; do open "${file}"; done

Resource: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/316008/open-several-pdfs-from-terminal