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I have had a daily maintenance script to clean out ~/Downloads via the periodic system for years. Recently I decided that I didn't want to delete the files but instead move them to ~/.Trash, allowing me to recover a file in the event I didn't move out of Downloads. The script change was easy, but since it runs as root the script finds the files but cannot move them to ~/.Trash.

The key line of the script is find -dx . -fstype local -type f -mtime +7 -exec /usr/local/bin/trash $@ {} + -print

Documentation of the periodic.conf system is hard to find. Is there a way that I can run a script as myself instead of as root so that the script will work? I've tried su <user> -c "find -dx . -fstype local -type f -mtime +7 -exec /usr/local/bin/trash $@ {} + -print" without success.

Anyone out there know some periodic magic?

Todd Vanyo
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    Would using a LaunchDaemon instead work as well? – nohillside Jul 27 '20 at 16:25
  • @nohillside, do you mean using the LaunchDaemon inside the daily script? – Todd Vanyo Jul 27 '20 at 17:02
  • I concur with @nohillside - using a LaunchAgent (runs as user) would run the script with root privileges. This is done with launchd and configured with a plist. The other option is to just copy the file to your trash folder which is a segue to my next question... where did /usr/local/bin/trash come from? That's not a folder that comes default. The Trash is in ~/.Trash for each user. – Allan Jul 27 '20 at 17:15
  • su should work fine to drop privileges from root to you. Not sure what exec /usr/local/bin/trash $@ {} + is about but it looks wrong. What is the $@ for? – fd0 Jul 27 '20 at 18:30
  • trash, installed via homebrew, is a CLI to move files into the user's trashcan. The -exec /usr/local/bin/trash $@ {} + is correct, per the find manpage and confirmation running directly at the command line. The $@ is a variable using all the files identified by find. The entire find command does work from the command line. – Todd Vanyo Jul 27 '20 at 19:11
  • I think one of the issues is Full Disk Access for the script in question. In trying to get it to work with LaunchAgent I've discovered that find isn't allowed in the ~/Downloads directory, which is a classic FDA issue. – Todd Vanyo Jul 31 '20 at 02:03

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