fix(macos): prevent automatic termination during memory pressure - #9312

🤖 Generated with Claude Code (But not AI Trash)

I don't really care for little stuff like this that is gonna be a single line in the plist. I have issues when people are submitting patches that are large "AI" generated code they do not understand and also do not fully test.

@sithlord48 I'm wondering if this change is actually effective. According to the docs, the detail on NSSupportsAutomaticTermination mentions memory ("reclaim the memory used by the app") but as the rationale for terminating an already-idle app, not as the trigger.

NSSupportsAutomaticTermination (Boolean - macOS). This key contains a Boolean value that indicates whether the app supports automatic termination in OS X v10.7 and later. Automatic termination allows an app that is running to be terminated automatically by the system when certain conditions apply. Primarily, the app can be terminated when it is hidden or does not have any visible windows and is not currently being used. The system may terminate such an app in order to reclaim the memory used by the app.

An app may programmatically disable and reenable automatic termination support using the disableAutomaticTermination and enableAutomaticTermination methods of NSProcessInfo. The app might do this to prevent being terminated during a critical operation.

Memory-pressure terminations on macOS are actually handled by jetsam/memorystatus in the macOS kernel:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/identifying-high-memory-use-with-jetsam-event-reports

AFAIK the kernel doesn't change it's behavior based on .plist files.AFAIK the kernel doesn't change it's behavior based on .plist files.

FWIW, the issue has not re-occurred for me since this change.

FWIW, the issue has not re-occurred for me since this change.

Good to know, thanks for the info. What's memory use like after the Core process has been running a few days?

Synergy 1.20.0, the Core process is sitting at ~18.7 MB RSS.

What about with Deskflow?

What about with Deskflow?

@nbolton -- apologies, I muddled the two. The numbers I posted are from Symless's commercial Synergy 1.20.0 build (/Applications/Synergy.app), which is what I actually run on this machine day-to-day; I don't have a Deskflow build installed, so that data isn't apples-to-apples for what you're asking about. Feel free to disregard the earlier snapshot.

What about with Deskflow?

@nbolton -- apologies, I muddled the two. The numbers I posted are from Symless's commercial Synergy 1.20.0 build (/Applications/Synergy.app), which is what I actually run on this machine day-to-day; I don't have a Deskflow build installed, so that data isn't apples-to-apples for what you're asking about. Feel free to disregard the earlier snapshot.

I'm the maintainer of the Synergy 1 commercial downstream code. Changes from Deskflow flow down into Synergy over time, so if it's not happening in Synergy but is happening in Deskflow, then this is useful information. Would you be able to try Deskflow? Deskflow and Synergy 1 are protocol compatible so you'd only need to update your Mac.