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











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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?






macos activity-monitor







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
    16 hours ago










  • I'm just trying to understand the architecture.
    – craig
    16 hours ago






  • 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
    16 hours ago










  • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345640/…
    – craig
    16 hours ago















up vote
5
down vote

favorite
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?






macos activity-monitor







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
    16 hours ago










  • I'm just trying to understand the architecture.
    – craig
    16 hours ago






  • 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
    16 hours ago










  • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345640/…
    – craig
    16 hours ago













up vote
5
down vote

favorite
1









up vote
5
down vote

favorite
1






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?






macos activity-monitor







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




macos activity-monitor






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 3 hours ago









Thunderforge

76551329




76551329










asked 16 hours ago









craig

4711519




4711519








  • 1




    What do you want to do, once you know the difference? Services are often essential to the parent application process.
    – Graham Miln
    16 hours ago










  • I'm just trying to understand the architecture.
    – craig
    16 hours ago






  • 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
    16 hours ago










  • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345640/…
    – craig
    16 hours ago














  • 1




    What do you want to do, once you know the difference? Services are often essential to the parent application process.
    – Graham Miln
    16 hours ago










  • I'm just trying to understand the architecture.
    – craig
    16 hours ago






  • 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
    16 hours ago










  • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345640/…
    – craig
    16 hours ago








1




1




What do you want to do, once you know the difference? Services are often essential to the parent application process.
– Graham Miln
16 hours ago




What do you want to do, once you know the difference? Services are often essential to the parent application process.
– Graham Miln
16 hours ago












I'm just trying to understand the architecture.
– craig
16 hours ago




I'm just trying to understand the architecture.
– craig
16 hours ago




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
16 hours ago




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
16 hours ago












apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345640/…
– craig
16 hours ago




apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345640/…
– craig
16 hours ago










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
7
down vote



accepted










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
    16 hours ago






  • 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
    16 hours ago










  • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…
    – craig
    16 hours ago


















up vote
6
down vote













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.






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    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes








    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes








    up vote
    7
    down vote



    accepted










    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
      16 hours ago






    • 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
      16 hours ago










    • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…
      – craig
      16 hours ago















    up vote
    7
    down vote



    accepted










    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
      16 hours ago






    • 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
      16 hours ago










    • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…
      – craig
      16 hours ago













    up vote
    7
    down vote



    accepted







    up vote
    7
    down vote



    accepted






    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 14 hours ago

























    answered 16 hours ago









    Graham Miln

    26.4k56188




    26.4k56188












    • Why do all processes (except kernel_task) run as children of launchd?
      – craig
      16 hours ago






    • 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
      16 hours ago










    • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…
      – craig
      16 hours ago


















    • Why do all processes (except kernel_task) run as children of launchd?
      – craig
      16 hours ago






    • 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
      16 hours ago










    • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…
      – craig
      16 hours ago
















    Why do all processes (except kernel_task) run as children of launchd?
    – craig
    16 hours ago




    Why do all processes (except kernel_task) run as children of launchd?
    – craig
    16 hours ago




    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
    16 hours ago




    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
    16 hours ago












    apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…
    – craig
    16 hours ago




    apple.stackexchange.com/questions/345639/…
    – craig
    16 hours ago












    up vote
    6
    down vote













    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



























      up vote
      6
      down vote













      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

























        up vote
        6
        down vote










        up vote
        6
        down vote









        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 16 hours ago

























        answered 16 hours ago









        Allan

        41.5k1359152




        41.5k1359152






























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