Table of Contents Running Synergy on MacOS via plist Make a Shell Script Create the corresponding plist file Activate your plist with launchctl OS X Server

Here we create a shell script and a property list file (plist), and activate the plist using the launchctl command-line tool.

The shell script runs the synergyc Unix executable, telling it to connect to a laboratory workstation. The property list file [please].

First make a little bash script or whatever to contain your synergy calls..

For example, I put mine in ~/.scripts/synergyscript.sh

Here's what my script looks like:

#!/bin/bash

## Synergy client, connecting to Lab workstation
/Applications/Synergy.app/Contents/MacOS/synergyc -f -d FATAL -n Intrepid 192.168.1.102

Here I'm telling the synergy client I'm running to announce my machine's name is Intrepid and I'm getting to to connect to the ip 192.168.1.102.

I used this format so that I might later add additional separate instances of synergy, as this was on a laptop that moves around.

Then make sure you make your script executable:

chmod +x ~/.scripts/synergyscript.sh

does it need to be made executable? we don't need that to run it manually. Does launchctl or the plist require it?

Run the script manually to confirm it works:

~/.scripts/synergyscript.sh

If it works, you should see [please]. If it doesn't work, you might see [please]. In that case, try [please].

I created my plist file under ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ca.dawning.scripts.osx.synergy.plist

It contains:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC -//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd >
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>ca.dawning.scripts.osx.synergy</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/Users/j/.scripts/synergyscript.sh</string>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
  </dict>
</plist>

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ca.dawning.scripts.osx.synergy.plist

To unload it, just swap that load above with unload.

Using a Mac OS X 10.6.8 server with synergys 1.4.12 and a Windows 7 SP1 client with synergyc.exe 1.4.12

Create a config file ~/Library/Synergy/synergy.conf (or where ever) with the following contents:

section: screens
	win:
		alt = super
		super = alt
		halfDuplexCapsLock = false
		halfDuplexNumLock = false
		halfDuplexScrollLock = false
		xtestIsXineramaUnaware = false
		switchCorners = none +top-right +bottom-right 
		switchCornerSize = 0
	osx:
		halfDuplexCapsLock = false
		halfDuplexNumLock = false
		halfDuplexScrollLock = false
		xtestIsXineramaUnaware = false
		switchCorners = none 
		switchCornerSize = 0
end

section: aliases
end

section: links
	win:
		right = osx
	osx:
		left = win
end

section: options
	relativeMouseMoves = false
	screenSaverSync = true
	win32KeepForeground = false
	switchCorners = none +top-left +bottom-left 
	switchCornerSize = 32
end

Create a file ~/bin/initsynergy.command with the following contents:

 # Hides tray icon. set to 0 to have it show again.
 defaults write /Applications/Synergy.app/Contents/Info LSUIElement 1
 
 /Applications/Synergy.app/Contents/MacOS/synergys --enable-crypto --config ~/Library/Synergy/synergy.conf -n osx -l /var/log/synergy.log

Make sure you:

 sudo touch /var/log/synergy.log
 sudo chown YOUROSXUSERNAME /var/log/synergy.log

Add ~/bin/initsynergy.command to your account's Login Items in System Preferences -> Accounts -> Login Items