Overview

When you’ve created or modified a Plist file and the desired service or application doesn’t start as expected, there are a few things you can do to locate and debug errors related to the plist files:

First, set the StandardOutPath and StandardErrorPath fields in the XML plist file:

  <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
  <string>/tmp/mycommand.err</string>
  <key>StandardOutPath</key>
  <string>/tmp/mycommand.out</string>

Second thing is to check the system log for any messages related to your plist:

$ tail -F /var/log/system.log | grep "com.apple.myPlist"