Executive Summary,
Startup items in Apple OS-X

This is a technical guide which will hopefully explain
the assorted ways Apple OS-X starts up and runs programs.

Now that we are all running 10.5.x or greater,
we are aware that all items are started by launchd, managed by launchctl, and configured by assorted .plist files.

The startup files are found in various locations, some are provided in the following tables.

Provided by the user:
Location Type
~/Library/LaunchAgents/ Per-user agents.
~/Library/Preferences/loginwindow.plist Per-user applications.

Optionally installed by MacPorts:
/opt/local/etc/LaunchDaemons/
SoftLinked to /Library/LaunchDaemons/

Provided by the administrator:
Location Type
/Library/LaunchAgents/ Per-user agents.
/Library/LaunchDaemons/ System wide daemons.
/System/Library/LaunchAgents/ Per-user agents.
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ System wide daemons.
/Library/Preferences/loginwindow.plist System wide applications.

† For more specific information, please see my detailed list.

NOTE: Most if not all of the above startup items will NOT load if you boot into "Safe Mode".
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