Unix Commands Unique to Mac OS X / Darwin

Unix Commands Unique to Mac OS X / Darwin
This page lists command-line programs that are found only or almost only on Darwin, the Open Source version of Unix used in Mac OS X. This information on this page is a pre-publication version of Appendix A of . For more information on Darwin, including access to the source code see http://developer.apple.com/darwin/. To read the Unix manual entry for a command type: man command at a shell prompt, for example: man authopen to read the authopen documentation. In the following table the first column shows the command name followed by the Unix manual section in parenthesis. Entries in Section 5 of the manual (for example plist) are documentation for configuration files and file formats, not commands.
Based on OS X 10.4.2, August 2005.	Compiled in August 2005 by Matisse Enzer
COMMAND(man SEC.)	DESCRIPTION	INSTALLED LOCATION
BuildStrings(1)	Programmer tool to generate .h and .r files.	/Developer/Tools
ConsoleMessage(8)	Send a message to SystemStarter.	/usr/libexec
CpMac(1)	Copy files preserving metadata and forks.	/Developer/Tools
DeRez(1)	Decompiles resources (programmer tool)	/Developer/Tools
DirectoryService(8)	DirectoryService daemon. See also dscl(1).	/usr/sbin
GetFileInfo(1)	Get Mac-only attributes of files & directories.	/Developer/Tools
MergePef(1)	Programmer tool. Merges "PowerPC Executable Format" (PEF) files.	/Developer/Tools
MvMac(1)	Move files, preserving metadata and forks.	/Developer/Tools
PPCExplain(1)	Programmer help for PPC assembly code.	/Developer/Tools
ResMerger(1)	Programmer tool for merging resource data.	/Developer/Tools
Rez(1)	Programmer tool to compile resources.	/Developer/Tools
RezWack(1)	Programmer tool to flatten file.	/Developer/Tools
SetFile(1)	Set Mac attributes of files and directories.	/Developer/Tools
SplitForks(1)	Divide two-fork HFS file into AppleDoubleresource and data files.	/Developer/Tools
StartupItemContext(8)	Execute a program in StartupItem context.	/usr/libexec
SystemStarter(8)	Start, stop, and restart system services.	/sbin
UnRezWack(1)	Split a RezWack file into separate files.	/Developer/Tools
WaitingForLoginWindow(8)	Draws to the screen until LoginWindowis ready.	/usr/libexec
agvtool(8)	Apple-generic versioning tool for Xcode.	/Developer/Tools
asr(8)	Apple Software Restore; copy volumes(e.g. from disk images)	/usr/sbin
authopen(1)	Open file with OS X authorization.	/usr/libexec
bless(8)	Set volume bootability and startupdisk options.	/usr/sbin
blued(8)	The Mac OS X bluetooth daemon.	/usr/sbin
bootpd(8)	DHCP/BOOTP/NetBoot server.	/usr/libexec
cd9660.util(8)	ISO 9660 file system utility.	/System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs
chkpasswd(8)	Verifies user password againstvarious systems.	/usr/libexec
coreaudiod(1)	Daemon for CoreAudio related purposes.	/usr/sbin
crashdump(8)	Crash reporting tool.	/usr/libexec
crashreporterd(8)	Crash detection and panic logging daemon.	/usr/libexec
create_nidb(8)	Creates a NetInfo database from flat files.	/usr/libexec
defaults(1)	Read and set Mac OS X user defaults.	/usr/bin
diskarbitrationd(8)	Disk arbitration daemon.	/usr/sbin
disklabel(8)	Manipulate and query Apple Label disk label.	/sbin
diskutil(8)	Modify, verify and repair local disks.	/usr/sbin
ditto(1)	Copy files and directories, provides Mac-specific options not available in cp.	/usr/bin
dnsextd(8)	BIND Extension Daemon.	/usr/sbin
dscl(1)	Directory Service command line utility.	/usr/bin
dsconfigad(8)	Configure the Active Directory Plug-in.	/usr/sbin
dsconfigldap(1)	Add/remove LDAP server configurations.	/usr/sbin
dseditgroup(1)	Manipulate groups in Directory Service.	/usr/sbin
dsenableroot(8)	Enable or disable the root account.	/usr/sbin
dsidentity(1)	Add/remove "identity" (non-login) user accounts.	/usr/sbin
fibreconfig(8)	Configure settings for Fibre Channel disks.	/sbin
fsaclctl (no man page)	Enable/disable Access Control Lists (ACLs).	/usr/sbin
hdid(8)	Disk Image loading and decompression.	/usr/bin
hdiutil(1)	Manipulate disk images (preferred over hdid.)	/usr/bin
hfs.util(8)	HFS/HFS+ file system utility.	/System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs
ifcstart(8)	Rebuilds file caches used by International	/usr/libexec
	components.
installer(8)	System software and package installer tool.	/usr/sbin
kerberosautoconfig(8)	Configure Kerberos for Open Directory.	/sbin
kextcache(8)	Creates or updates kernel extension caches.	/usr/sbin
kextd(8)	Loads kernel extensions on demand.	/usr/libexec/kextd
kextload(8)	Loads, validates, and generates symbols for a kernel extension.	/sbin
kextstat(8)	Display status of dynamically loaded kext's.	/usr/sbin
kextunload(8)	Terminates and unloads kernel extensions.	/sbin
kuncd(8)	The Kernel User Notification Center daemon.	/usr/libexec
launchctl(1)	Command-line interface to launchd.	/bin
launchd(8)	System wide and per-user daemon/agent manager.	/sbin
launchd.conf(5)	Commands for launchctl to run when launchd starts.	man page, not a command.
launchd.plist(5)	Documentation for launchd configuration files.	man page, not a command.
launchd_debugd(8)	Simple HTTP server to display launchd job data.	See man page.
launchproxy(8)	Provides inetd emulation for launchd.	/usr/libexec
lookupd(8)	Directory information and cache daemon.	/usr/sbin
mdcheckschema(1)	Schema validation tool for mdimport files.	/usr/bin
mdfind(1)	Command-line version of Spotlight search.	/usr/bin
mdimport(1)	Import file hierarchies into the Spotlight datastore,	/usr/bin
mdls(1)	Lists the metadata attributes for the specified file.	/usr/bin
mdutil(1)	Manage the metadata stores used by Spotlight.	/usr/bin
memberd(8)	Group membership resolution daemon.	/usr/sbin
memberd.plist	File located at /usr/share/man/man8/memberd.plist	Not a command.
mkextunpack(8)	Programmer tool for multikext (mkext) archives.	/usr/sbin
mount_cddafs(8)	Mount an Audio CD.	/sbin
newfs_hfs(8)	Construct a new HFS Plus (HFS+) file system.	/sbin
nibtool(1)	Programmer tool to print, verify, and update nib files(nib files contain user interface objects.)	/usr/bin
niutil(1)	NetInfo utility - read and write NetInfo data.	/usr/bin
ntfs.util(8)	NTFS file system utility.	/System/Library/Filesystems/ntfs.fs
osacompile(1)	Compile AppleScripts and other OSA language scripts.	/usr/bin
osalang(1)	Show information about installed OSA languages.	/usr/bin
osascript(1)	Execute AppleScripts and other OSA language scripts.	/usr/bin
pbcopy(1)	Copy from STDIN to the pasteboard (Clipboard.)	/usr/bin
pbpaste(1)	Paste from the pasteboard (Clipboard) to STDOUT.	/usr/bin
pbhelpindexer(1)	Index the HTML documentation for Developer Tools.	/Developer/Tools
pbprojectdump	Takes an Xcode project file and outputs a more nestedversion of the project structure.	No man page.
pl(1)	Converts between ASCII and binary plist formats.	/usr/bin
plist(5)	Property list format documentation.	Not a command.
plutil(1)	Check property list syntax and/or convert format.	/usr/bin
pmset(1)	Modify power management settings.	/usr/bin
say(1)	Convert text to audible speech.	/usr/bin
screencapture(1)	Capture screenshots to file or Clipboard.	/usr/sbin
screenreaderd(8)	VoiceOver daemon, gives audible feedback on useractivity and responds to user requests forVoiceOver feedback.	/usr/sbin
scsid(8)	SCSI subsystem daemon.	/usr/libexec
securityd(1)	Security context daemon for Authorization and cryptographic operations.	/usr/libexec
softwareupdate(8)	Mac OS X System Software Update tool.	/usr/sbin
sw_vers(1)	Show operating system version information.	/usr/bin
system_profiler(8)	Show system hardware and software configuration.	/usr/sbin
textutil(1)	Convert between various file formats.	/usr/bin
ufs.util(8)	UFS file system utility	/System/Library/Filesystems/ufs.fs
uninstall-devtools.pl(8)	Remove Xcode Tools or Developer installation.	/Developer/Tools
uuidgen(1)	Utility to generate a new Universally Unique ID (UUID.)	/usr/bin
vpnd(8)	Mac OS X VPN service daemon.	/usr/sbin
wait4path(1)	Wait for given path to show up in the file system.	/bin
xcodebuild(1)	Build an Xcode project.	/usr/bin
xgridctl(8)	Xgrid daemons control interface.	/usr/sbin