How can I distinguish a service form a process in Activity Monitor?












6















Is there a way to determine if an entry listed in Activity Monitor is a service (daemon) or a process (application)?



Examples:




  • Firefox (application)

  • com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper (daemon?)


Is there a good definition of what these terms (that I'm using loosely) mean in OS X?










share|improve this question




















  • 1





    What do you want to do, once you know the difference? Services are often essential to the parent application process.

    – Graham Miln
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:19











  • I'm just trying to understand the architecture.

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:25






  • 1





    Please can you ask a new question for Does the application need to be built in specific way (e.g. no UI, implement certain interfaces) so it can be used as a service?` Ask Different works best when each question is asked separately. Feel free to refer to other questions in your new question.

    – Graham Miln
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:37











  • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345640/…

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:43
















6















Is there a way to determine if an entry listed in Activity Monitor is a service (daemon) or a process (application)?



Examples:




  • Firefox (application)

  • com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper (daemon?)


Is there a good definition of what these terms (that I'm using loosely) mean in OS X?










share|improve this question




















  • 1





    What do you want to do, once you know the difference? Services are often essential to the parent application process.

    – Graham Miln
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:19











  • I'm just trying to understand the architecture.

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:25






  • 1





    Please can you ask a new question for Does the application need to be built in specific way (e.g. no UI, implement certain interfaces) so it can be used as a service?` Ask Different works best when each question is asked separately. Feel free to refer to other questions in your new question.

    – Graham Miln
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:37











  • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345640/…

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:43














6












6








6


1






Is there a way to determine if an entry listed in Activity Monitor is a service (daemon) or a process (application)?



Examples:




  • Firefox (application)

  • com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper (daemon?)


Is there a good definition of what these terms (that I'm using loosely) mean in OS X?










share|improve this question
















Is there a way to determine if an entry listed in Activity Monitor is a service (daemon) or a process (application)?



Examples:




  • Firefox (application)

  • com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper (daemon?)


Is there a good definition of what these terms (that I'm using loosely) mean in OS X?







macos activity-monitor






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Dec 15 '18 at 3:47









Thunderforge

79051330




79051330










asked Dec 14 '18 at 14:02









craigcraig

4861521




4861521








  • 1





    What do you want to do, once you know the difference? Services are often essential to the parent application process.

    – Graham Miln
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:19











  • I'm just trying to understand the architecture.

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:25






  • 1





    Please can you ask a new question for Does the application need to be built in specific way (e.g. no UI, implement certain interfaces) so it can be used as a service?` Ask Different works best when each question is asked separately. Feel free to refer to other questions in your new question.

    – Graham Miln
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:37











  • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345640/…

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:43














  • 1





    What do you want to do, once you know the difference? Services are often essential to the parent application process.

    – Graham Miln
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:19











  • I'm just trying to understand the architecture.

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:25






  • 1





    Please can you ask a new question for Does the application need to be built in specific way (e.g. no UI, implement certain interfaces) so it can be used as a service?` Ask Different works best when each question is asked separately. Feel free to refer to other questions in your new question.

    – Graham Miln
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:37











  • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345640/…

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:43








1




1





What do you want to do, once you know the difference? Services are often essential to the parent application process.

– Graham Miln
Dec 14 '18 at 14:19





What do you want to do, once you know the difference? Services are often essential to the parent application process.

– Graham Miln
Dec 14 '18 at 14:19













I'm just trying to understand the architecture.

– craig
Dec 14 '18 at 14:25





I'm just trying to understand the architecture.

– craig
Dec 14 '18 at 14:25




1




1





Please can you ask a new question for Does the application need to be built in specific way (e.g. no UI, implement certain interfaces) so it can be used as a service?` Ask Different works best when each question is asked separately. Feel free to refer to other questions in your new question.

– Graham Miln
Dec 14 '18 at 14:37





Please can you ask a new question for Does the application need to be built in specific way (e.g. no UI, implement certain interfaces) so it can be used as a service?` Ask Different works best when each question is asked separately. Feel free to refer to other questions in your new question.

– Graham Miln
Dec 14 '18 at 14:37













apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345640/…

– craig
Dec 14 '18 at 14:43





apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345640/…

– craig
Dec 14 '18 at 14:43










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















7














All Processes, Hierarchically



Activity Monitor can show the process hierarchy:



Activity Monitor.app > View (menu) > All Processes, Hierarchically



The grouping shows those processes launched by another process. Typically child-process will be services of the parent. On macOS many of these child processes will be XPC instances.



Services are Processes



On macOS, daemons are processes and services are processes. In your example, com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper, this is an XPC service.






share|improve this answer


























  • Why do all processes (except kernel_task) run as children of launchd?

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:32






  • 3





    This would make a great new question. The root process in macOS is launchd and Apple have decided to put almost every process launch through it. I suspect it has many benefits but those can be discussed in a new question.

    – Graham Miln
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:36











  • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:40



















6














Technically speaking, anything that gets loaded and executed is a process; so a service is a process.



A service is a nuanced definition of something that gets loaded to provide a service like DHCP or DNS.



A alternative way to sum this up is all services are processes, but not all processes are services. An example would be Firefox, it's a process, but not a service - it's an application.






share|improve this answer

























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    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes








    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    7














    All Processes, Hierarchically



    Activity Monitor can show the process hierarchy:



    Activity Monitor.app > View (menu) > All Processes, Hierarchically



    The grouping shows those processes launched by another process. Typically child-process will be services of the parent. On macOS many of these child processes will be XPC instances.



    Services are Processes



    On macOS, daemons are processes and services are processes. In your example, com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper, this is an XPC service.






    share|improve this answer


























    • Why do all processes (except kernel_task) run as children of launchd?

      – craig
      Dec 14 '18 at 14:32






    • 3





      This would make a great new question. The root process in macOS is launchd and Apple have decided to put almost every process launch through it. I suspect it has many benefits but those can be discussed in a new question.

      – Graham Miln
      Dec 14 '18 at 14:36











    • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…

      – craig
      Dec 14 '18 at 14:40
















    7














    All Processes, Hierarchically



    Activity Monitor can show the process hierarchy:



    Activity Monitor.app > View (menu) > All Processes, Hierarchically



    The grouping shows those processes launched by another process. Typically child-process will be services of the parent. On macOS many of these child processes will be XPC instances.



    Services are Processes



    On macOS, daemons are processes and services are processes. In your example, com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper, this is an XPC service.






    share|improve this answer


























    • Why do all processes (except kernel_task) run as children of launchd?

      – craig
      Dec 14 '18 at 14:32






    • 3





      This would make a great new question. The root process in macOS is launchd and Apple have decided to put almost every process launch through it. I suspect it has many benefits but those can be discussed in a new question.

      – Graham Miln
      Dec 14 '18 at 14:36











    • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…

      – craig
      Dec 14 '18 at 14:40














    7












    7








    7







    All Processes, Hierarchically



    Activity Monitor can show the process hierarchy:



    Activity Monitor.app > View (menu) > All Processes, Hierarchically



    The grouping shows those processes launched by another process. Typically child-process will be services of the parent. On macOS many of these child processes will be XPC instances.



    Services are Processes



    On macOS, daemons are processes and services are processes. In your example, com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper, this is an XPC service.






    share|improve this answer















    All Processes, Hierarchically



    Activity Monitor can show the process hierarchy:



    Activity Monitor.app > View (menu) > All Processes, Hierarchically



    The grouping shows those processes launched by another process. Typically child-process will be services of the parent. On macOS many of these child processes will be XPC instances.



    Services are Processes



    On macOS, daemons are processes and services are processes. In your example, com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper, this is an XPC service.







    share|improve this answer














    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer








    edited Dec 14 '18 at 16:29

























    answered Dec 14 '18 at 14:15









    Graham MilnGraham Miln

    27.3k56189




    27.3k56189













    • Why do all processes (except kernel_task) run as children of launchd?

      – craig
      Dec 14 '18 at 14:32






    • 3





      This would make a great new question. The root process in macOS is launchd and Apple have decided to put almost every process launch through it. I suspect it has many benefits but those can be discussed in a new question.

      – Graham Miln
      Dec 14 '18 at 14:36











    • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…

      – craig
      Dec 14 '18 at 14:40



















    • Why do all processes (except kernel_task) run as children of launchd?

      – craig
      Dec 14 '18 at 14:32






    • 3





      This would make a great new question. The root process in macOS is launchd and Apple have decided to put almost every process launch through it. I suspect it has many benefits but those can be discussed in a new question.

      – Graham Miln
      Dec 14 '18 at 14:36











    • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…

      – craig
      Dec 14 '18 at 14:40

















    Why do all processes (except kernel_task) run as children of launchd?

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:32





    Why do all processes (except kernel_task) run as children of launchd?

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:32




    3




    3





    This would make a great new question. The root process in macOS is launchd and Apple have decided to put almost every process launch through it. I suspect it has many benefits but those can be discussed in a new question.

    – Graham Miln
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:36





    This would make a great new question. The root process in macOS is launchd and Apple have decided to put almost every process launch through it. I suspect it has many benefits but those can be discussed in a new question.

    – Graham Miln
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:36













    apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:40





    apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…

    – craig
    Dec 14 '18 at 14:40













    6














    Technically speaking, anything that gets loaded and executed is a process; so a service is a process.



    A service is a nuanced definition of something that gets loaded to provide a service like DHCP or DNS.



    A alternative way to sum this up is all services are processes, but not all processes are services. An example would be Firefox, it's a process, but not a service - it's an application.






    share|improve this answer






























      6














      Technically speaking, anything that gets loaded and executed is a process; so a service is a process.



      A service is a nuanced definition of something that gets loaded to provide a service like DHCP or DNS.



      A alternative way to sum this up is all services are processes, but not all processes are services. An example would be Firefox, it's a process, but not a service - it's an application.






      share|improve this answer




























        6












        6








        6







        Technically speaking, anything that gets loaded and executed is a process; so a service is a process.



        A service is a nuanced definition of something that gets loaded to provide a service like DHCP or DNS.



        A alternative way to sum this up is all services are processes, but not all processes are services. An example would be Firefox, it's a process, but not a service - it's an application.






        share|improve this answer















        Technically speaking, anything that gets loaded and executed is a process; so a service is a process.



        A service is a nuanced definition of something that gets loaded to provide a service like DHCP or DNS.



        A alternative way to sum this up is all services are processes, but not all processes are services. An example would be Firefox, it's a process, but not a service - it's an application.







        share|improve this answer














        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer








        edited Dec 14 '18 at 14:15

























        answered Dec 14 '18 at 14:09









        AllanAllan

        45.1k1467168




        45.1k1467168






























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