In my case, the files under /Library/StartupItems/MyApache still belonged to me instead of root:wheel.

Fixed with a simple:

mbp:StartupItems florent$ sudo chown -Rv root:wheel /Library/StartupItems/MyApache/

It also appears that StartupItems permissions need to be set to 755 (executable/script file) and 644 (plist file) respectively.

Unlike classical Linuces that stock programs to launch at boot in a /etc/init.d folder for example; OS X uses a mechanism called Startup Items. These items can be found in /Library/StartupItems/, ~/Library/StartupItems and /System/Library/StartupItems.

One particular strength of the Startup Items is that you can specify in which order to launch them.

Let’s say I’ll make a startup item called MyApache. I’ll start by create the folder:

mbp:~ florent$ sudo mkdir /Library/StartupItems/MyApache

This folder will contain at least two files: an executable script called MyApache, and a file called StartupParameters.plist.

The script will be called at startup and shutdown, and will look like this:

#!/bin/sh

## Apache Web Server ; custom install ##

. /etc/rc.common
StartService (){
    ConsoleMessage "Starting Apache"
    /usr/local/apache2/bin/launchctl start
}

StopService (){
    ConsoleMessage "Stopping Apache"
    /usr/local/apache2/bin/launchctl stop
}

RestartService (){
    ConsoleMessage "Restarting Apache"
    /usr/local/apache2/bin/launchctl restart
}

RunService "$1"

The StartupParameters.plist file will contain data about the information to launch. It’s an XML file that will look like:

<?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>Description</key>
    <string>My own Apache webserver</string>
    <key>Messages</key>
    <dict>
        <key>start</key>
        <string>Starting my Apache</string>
        <key>stop</key>
        <string>Stopping my Apache</string>
    </dict>
    <key>Preference</key>
    <string>Late</string>
    <key>Provides</key>
    <array>
        <string>MyApache</string>
    </array>
    <key>Requires</key>
    <array>
        <string>Network</string>
    </array>
    <key>Uses</key>
    <array>
        <string>Disks</string>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>

We can see that Apache Requires the networks to be up, and will use Disks.

Let’s imagine I want to launch my Apache after my Jabber server for some reason. I’ll just create a StartupItem called “Jabber”, the same way as we just did, then add the following line to MyApache’s StartupParameters.plist “Requires” section:

                <string>Jabber</string>

Now at startup, OS X will launch Jabber and wait until it’s up and running before launching Apache.