Simon 5 is coming soon!
Simon version 5 is currently in beta testing. It is a massive update, introducing a much-requested feature: syncing the Simon data between multiple Macs, plus a Simon Status service, a Link Checker filter, improved Find filter, iMessage and Speak Error notifiers, a new app icon, and much more.
Important: please note that Simon 5 requires a minimum of macOS 10.12 (Sierra), and will be a paid upgrade from Simon 4 after the beta. Purchasers since September 1, 2020 automatically get a version 5 license (that also works in previous versions).
Re: Feature Request: Simon.pid?
Hi Wade,
I hadn't encountered .pid files before... but a quick search seems to suggest it's a linux thing.
It wouldn't be difficult to support that, though, so I'll consider adding it in the forthcoming release.
To save me some time: where should this file be saved? Is it simply called ".pid", or something like "Simon.pid"? Does it just contain the process ID?
If I don't get around to adding it, you may be able to do it via a frequent script service to check Simon's PID and a script notifier to write the .pid file when it changes.
Re: Feature Request: Simon.pid?
Hi David,
Sorry for tardy reply, I forgot that the forum doesn't notify on replies.
Normally the pid file just contains the process ID and would be written to /var/run/simon.pid
If you check out your current /var/run it probably has AppleFileServer.pid, cron.pid, mds.pid and a a few others. I'm not certain on the exact format as some seem to have a terminating line feed and some don't.
I've had a play with a service script to check and update a pid file. Simon is running as a logged in user but it doesn't have write permissions to /var/run so I've got it writing to /var/tmp instead. It's takes a few seconds to get written after starting up (it's normally at the end of the queue) but so far it's been soon enough so monit doesn't try re-restarting it. But so far so good. 8)
Re: Feature Request: Simon.pid?
Yeah, Simon wouldn't be able to write to /var/run without asking for authentication, which I wouldn't want to do. I don't really want it writing to any directories outside its data folder, either, since that won't work if I ever get Simon sandboxed (so I can update the Mac App Store editions).
So your service script is probably the best option at present.
Happy New Year!