OS X launch support

[fuzzy]

Under OS X, the recommended way launching daemons is launchd(8). BFilter's installer could install the daemon in the standard unix paths (/usr/local/sbin/bfilterd and /usr/local/etc/bfilter) and a file like that:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>GroupName</key>
<string>daemon</string> //write permissions for /private/var/run
<key>Label</key>
<string>org.jart.bfilter</string>//or what you like
<key>OnDemand</key> //start it on load and let it run (see also below)
<false/>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/local/sbin/bfilterd</string>
<string>--confdir</string> //under OSX, the default dir is /Library/Application Support
<string>/usr/local/etc/bfilter</string>
<string>--pid</string>
<string>/private/var/run/bfilterd.pid</string>
</array>
<key>ServiceDescription</key>
<string>BFilter Web Proxy</string>
<key>UserName</key>
<string>daemon</string>
</dict>
</plist>

in /Library/LaunchDaemons/.
Additionally, if you use the launch(3) API, launchd could start bfilterd on demand, that is, when I browse to a page.

[fuzzy]

BFilter rulz !!!

[jart]

If I use launchd, that would break compatibility with Panther. I plan supporting Panther at least until 10.5 is released. In fact, my laptop is still running it.
What is the advantage of using it anyway?

[fuzzy]

Well, used this way... none. But On-Demand launching saves memory when it's not used.

...only a suggestion. (Apple tries to merge standard cron, rc and at programs into one, what IMHO isn't a bad idea.)

[stonetownmike]

After years of using Privoxy, I discovered it's not compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 (aka Snow Leopard). Worse, Privoxy's developers no longer support OS X at all. As soon as I switched to BFilter -- which works fine in 10.6 -- I realized it's what I should have been using all along. My only complaint: BFilter installs itself in /Library/StartupItems/ which is deprecated in 10.6. So I tried a little hack based on fuzzy's post. All it took was to edit the BFilter startup script to change the path to BFilterDaemon to /usr/local/sbin and then to write a launch agent plist stored in /Library/LaunchDaemons. Hope I'm not treading on anyone's copyright -- but it works great.