Reading Logs
On macOS Launcher runs as a launchd service. It logs to the files /var/log/kolide-k2/launcher-stderr.log
and /var/log/kolide-k2/launcher-stdout.log
These files may be viewed, or sent to support.
Debug Mode
Launcher can be configured to log with various debug levels. You can do this by running the following command in a terminal window. It needs root permission, and will prompt you for your password.
sudo pkill -SIGUSR2 -f /usr/local/kolide-k2/bin/launcher
debug mode can be turned off by running that same command.
Starting in the foreground
An uncommon step is to start launcher in the foreground. To do this, you must stop laucher. As launchd is configured to keep launcher up, this has some extra steps. This process is generally not recommended
To disable launcher:
sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.kolide-k2.launcher.plist
To run in the foreground:
sudo /usr/local/kolide-k2/bin/launcher \
-config /etc/kolide-k2/launcher.flags \
-debug -osquery_verbose
When you're done, you can restart the launcher service with:
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.kolide-k2.launcher.plist
Debugging Launchd
On very rare occasions, launchd will not correct load the agent.
1. Run sudo launchctl print 'system/com.kolide-k2.launcher'
This will either return a great deal of debugging, or it might say Could not find service
2. If it cannot find the service, try sudo /bin/launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.kolide-k2.launcher.plist
3. If this tells you the service is disabled, try sudo launchctl enable 'system/com.kolide-k2.launcher'
and then the load command again