[Question]: Unable to successfully run launchd service on Mac

[petgus-lyko]

Describe your question

Freshly configured agent which can run jobs without any problem

admin@lykobyggapp01 azure-agent % ./run.sh 
Scanning for tool capabilities.
Connecting to the server.
2023-10-30 09:46:51Z: Listening for Jobs

Installing service

admin@lykobyggapp01 azure-agent % ./svc.sh install
Creating launch agent in /Users/admin/Library/LaunchAgents/vsts.agent.LykoGroup.MacMiniPool.lykobyggapp01.plist
Creating /Users/admin/Library/Logs/vsts.agent.LykoGroup.MacMiniPool.lykobyggapp01
Creating /Users/admin/Library/LaunchAgents/vsts.agent.LykoGroup.MacMiniPool.lykobyggapp01.plist
Creating runsvc.sh
Creating .service
sec install complete

Everything seems ok

Trying to start the launch agent it fails.

admin@lykobyggapp01 azure-agent % ./svc.sh start
starting vsts.agent.LykoGroup.MacMiniPool.lykobyggapp01
Failed: failed to load /Users/admin/Library/LaunchAgents/vsts.agent.LykoGroup.MacMiniPool.lykobyggapp01.plist

No error in /var/log/system.log

admin@lykobyggapp01 azure-agent % ls -la ~/Library/LaunchAgents 
total 8
drwxr-xr-x   3 admin  staff    96 Oct 30 10:31 .
drwxr-xr-x@ 74 admin  staff  2368 Oct 12 11:46 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 admin  staff   957 Oct 30 10:31 vsts.agent.LykoGroup.MacMiniPool.lykobyggapp01.plist

admin@lykobyggapp01 azure-agent % cat  ~/Library/LaunchAgents/vsts.agent.LykoGroup.MacMiniPool.lykobyggapp01.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>vsts.agent.LykoGroup.MacMiniPool.lykobyggapp01</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/Users/admin/azure-agent/runsvc.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>UserName</key>
    <string>admin</string>
    <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
    <string>/Users/admin/azure-agent</string>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>    
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/Users/admin/Library/Logs/vsts.agent.LykoGroup.MacMiniPool.lykobyggapp01/stdout.log</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/Users/admin/Library/Logs/vsts.agent.LykoGroup.MacMiniPool.lykobyggapp01/stderr.log</string>
    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
    <dict> 
      <key>VSTS_AGENT_SVC</key>
      <string>1</string>
    </dict>
  </dict>
</plist>

Versions

Installed this package
https://vstsagentpackage.azureedge.net/agent/3.227.2/vsts-agent-osx-x64-3.227.2.tar.gz

System:

admin@lykobyggapp01 azure-agent % sw_vers                                                                                                                 
ProductName:		macOS
ProductVersion:		13.3
BuildVersion:		22E252
admin@lykobyggapp01 azure-agent % sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string
Apple M2

Environment type (Please select at least one enviroment where you face this issue)

• Self-Hosted
• Microsoft Hosted
• VMSS Pool
• Container

Azure DevOps Server type

dev.azure.com (formerly visualstudio.com)

Operation system

MacOs 13.3

Version controll system

No response

Azure DevOps Server Version (if applicable)

No response

[petgus-lyko]

Should mention that running runsvc.sh which is what the plist is configured to run works.

admin@lykobyggapp01 azure-agent % ./runsvc.sh 
.path=/Users/admin/.nvm/versions/node/v18.16.0/bin:/Users/admin/.rbenv/shims:/opt/homebrew/bin:/opt/homebrew/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/System/Cryptexes/App/usr/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Library/Apple/usr/bin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/local/bin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/bin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/appleinternal/bin:/Users/admin/android_sdk/cmdline-tools/latest/bin:/Users/admin/android_sdk/platform-tools:/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
Starting Agent listener with startup type: service
Started listener process
Started running service
Scanning for tool capabilities.
Connecting to the server.
2023-10-30 15:48:10Z: Listening for Jobs

[petgus-lyko]

If it makes any difference I'm accessing the Mac remotely via a SSH terminal.

[petgus-lyko]

SOLVED!
Turns out launchctl load -w does not allow me to start when logging in via a SSH terminal.
Using TeamViewer instead I successfully managed to start the service via
./svc.sh start

Note: I was logging in as the same user all the time.

Will setup remote management for the Mac mini and work with svc.sh that way instead of connecting via SSH.