dbus and launchd spinning out of control

[Darren Weber]

I've only just noticed my Utilities -> Console log and it contains streams
of the following messages:

3/28/09 3:11:03 PM org.macports.dbus[20573] Failed to start message bus: The
pid file "/opt/local/var/run/dbus/pid" exists, if the message bus is not
running, remove this file
3/28/09 3:11:03 PM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.macports.dbus) Throttling
respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
3/28/09 3:11:03 PM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.macports.dbus) Throttling
respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
3/28/09 3:11:13 PM org.macports.dbus[20575] Failed to start message bus: The
pid file "/opt/local/var/run/dbus/pid" exists, if the message bus is not
running, remove this file
3/28/09 3:11:13 PM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.macports.dbus) Throttling
respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
3/28/09 3:11:13 PM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.macports.dbus) Throttling
respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
3/28/09 3:11:23 PM org.macports.dbus[20579] Failed to start message bus: The
pid file "/opt/local/var/run/dbus/pid" exists, if the message bus is not
running, remove this file
3/28/09 3:11:23 PM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.macports.dbus) Throttling
respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
3/28/09 3:11:23 PM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.macports.dbus) Throttling
respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
3/28/09 3:11:33 PM org.macports.dbus[20583] Failed to start message bus: The
pid file "/opt/local/var/run/dbus/pid" exists, if the message bus is not
running, remove this file
3/28/09 3:11:33 PM com.apple.launchd[1] (org.macports.dbus) Throttling
respawn: Will start in 10 seconds


So every 10 sec, launchd is trying to get dbus up and running, but it fails
because an old pid file is hanging around.  Can this be resolved
automatically?  When I check the file, I get:

[ dweber at XXXX ~ ]$ ls -l /opt/local/var/run/dbus/pid
-rw-r--r-- 1 root messagebus 4 2008-09-19 21:05 /opt/local/var/run/dbus/pid


Given the date of this pid file (Sep 2008), I can only assume that this
entire process has been repeated every 10 seconds for months, whenever my
laptop system is running.  I've now removed the old pid file and the launchd
job has finally come to rest.

I'm not a frequent checker of system logs, I just use the system and I guess
most people are also unlikely to check the system logs (console).  I'm
curious about why this situation arose and, moreover, why it was not
automatically resolved (it clearly required my intervention to remove the
old pid file).

Take care, Darren
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