Cleanup scripts: macOS 15 removes "periodic", but no longer needs it
Apple has once again made changes to the terminal and removed old routines from the system. Some of them had been discontinued long ago.
Crossed-out macOS terminal window: Confusing remodeling.
(Image: Apple / Mac & i)
Apple has removed a terminal-based schedule manager called periodic from the system inventory with macOS 15 alias Sequoia. The command previously made it possible to execute daily, weekly and monthly maintenance and cleanup scripts ("housekeeping"), including the rollover of system log files. Maintenance apps such as the popular OnyX also used this.
Other services take over the work
However, Apple had long since handed over the work performed by periodic to other programs. For example, the logd service takes care of cleaning up the logs. However, when the periodic tasks were taken over, there were changes – logd now bases its clean-up work on the total amount of memory and no longer on the age of the log files, as Mac & i author Howard Oakley writes in his blog.
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periodic itself had long been discontinued by Apple. Even in macOS 14 alias Sonoma, the predecessor of Sequoia, the system itself is said to have stopped using the routine. However, there are users who have used the command for their own tasks. They now have to switch, although there are several options here – one better, the other worse.
launchd is and remains the ideal solution
If you want to stay up to date, it is best to use launchd to execute the desired routine as LaunchAgent or LaunchDaemon. Alternatively, you can also use the traditional cron, which is still available but has been deactivated under macOS standard configurations.
Apple often discontinues command line commands and other system areas that are no longer (or should no longer be) used years in advance. It often happens that developers are then surprised by such a change because Apple no longer announces it separately. periodic also recently cleaned up temp files of the fax service, which hardly any user is likely to use any more. StackExchange has another discussion on the subject of periodic, which also mentions other possible replacements. Apple has now published a guide to using Terminal under macOS 15 in German.
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