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I’m on a Mac running OS X 10.6.x and I’m seeing this launchd error message repeated constantly in Console.app:

How can I stop this error message?

3/3/12 3:35:03.002 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503: (com.hp.help.tocgenerator) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds

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    Where do you see it? While doing what?
    – Oliver Salzburg
    Commented Mar 3, 2012 at 23:57
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    possible duplicate of How do I get rid of com.apple.launchd.peruser errors in my log?
    – iglvzx
    Commented Mar 4, 2012 at 0:04
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    @OliverSalzburg: It is seen in Console.app as the standard output/error of a process in Mac OS X. He is likely seeing a repeated barrage of these messages from launchd, which is the part of OS X that handles launch agent and launch daemon services.
    – NSGod
    Commented Mar 4, 2012 at 2:08
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    @iglvzx: This question is not a duplicate. The only thing this question has in common with that one is that it happens to involve launchd jobs. launchd is a public API Apple provides in Mac OS X to implement on-demand services: millions of developers can and do use it to implement services in their applications. The cause of all the error messages logged to console on behalf of a launchd job are going to be specific to the product that is using the API, not to the API itself. In this case, it's HP software.
    – NSGod
    Commented Mar 4, 2012 at 2:50
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    Why the hell was this closed? If this question was so "ambiguous, vague, incomplete, [or] overly broad" then how was I able to come up with an exact solution for it? Please reopen this. Sorry, but if you know nothing about the tags in this question (osx, mac, and launcd), then please refrain from making a judgement about how "unclear" this question might be. It's perfectly clear to me. Every single word in that quoted error message is full of information.
    – NSGod
    Commented Mar 5, 2012 at 22:47

1 Answer 1

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It looks like it is being produced by some component of the HP software for your printer/scanner/multi-function device. (All launchd jobs are identified by a label, which is generally a reverse-DNS formatted string of the developer (see CFBundleIdentifier for more info). In this case, it's hp.com).

[UPDATED]: Okay, after a google search of that bundle identifier, I came across this PhotoSmart C4280 repeating error messages in system.log thread in HP's forums.

Basically, the reason for the issue is whoever wrote the HP software not really understanding how to implement a launchd LaunchAgent properly.

I wrote an AppleScript script to help automate the process of unloading the old launchd job, updating the plist file, and loading the new job:

HP com.hp.help.tocgenerator Helper.app (.zip file, ~29 KB)

Here's the code if you're interested:

if existsFile(":Library:LaunchAgents:com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist") then
    set plistFileContentsString to (do shell script "/bin/cat /Library/LaunchAgents/com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist")
    if (plistFileContentsString contains "LaunchOnlyOnce") then
        display alert "It looks like your \"com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist\"
              has already been helped." buttons "Quit" default button "Quit"
        quit
    else
        set ourPlistPath to POSIX path of (path to resource "com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist")
        do shell script "/bin/launchctl unload /Library/LaunchAgents/com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist;
 /bin/rm -f /Library/LaunchAgents/com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist;
 /usr/bin/ditto --noqtn " & 
 quoted form of ourPlistPath &
   " /Library/LaunchAgents/com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist;
 /usr/sbin/chown 0:0 /Library/LaunchAgents/com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist;
 /bin/launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist"
 with administrator privileges
    end if
else
    display alert "Sorry, you don't appear to have the applicable
      HP software installed." buttons "Quit" default button "Quit"
    quit
end if

You should be able to run that AppleScript to alleviate the issue.

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