What is XPCD which spams my logs in Console?

xpcd : description of Mac OS X process : by triviaware

There is apparently a problem with how it was installed or somebody removed that file. I suggest you reinstall OS X. It is not spam if it's in a Console log.

Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks without erasing drive

Boot to the Recovery HD:

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

Repair

When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu.

Reinstall Mountain Lion or Mavericks

OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X

OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X

OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet

if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Then there is something else wrong, but I don't know what that would be. I can only offer two things to try but they aren't solutions:

1. Boot into Safe Mode to see if the problem recurs while in safe mode.

2. Create a new admin user account. Log out of your account and into the new one to see if the problem ceases.

If the problem recurs in Item 2, then you know the problem is related to something with the system and not in your user account.

If the problem ceases in safe mode, then that confirms the issue is a system issue.

The only other thing I can think of would be an as yet uninstalled security update. You can try Software Update from the Apple menu to see if a security update appears.

has anybody seen the fix? I am having the same problem, updated to last version and reinstalled mavericks to no avail...

I'm also experiencing the same. Could someone with better English than mine contact bugreport.apple.com and file a bug report?

OK, gave up and reinstall my mac, had too many errors in console, it was becoming unusable

I've managed to get things in order using Mavericks Cache Cleaner, from Northern Softworks.

Maintain menu > Rebuild XPC helper cache

Reinstalling Mavericks would fine if I didn't have to restart the download a minimum of ten times and sometimes as many as 14. The download just stops and will not resume even after a period of two hours.

I get that Console Log message hundreds of times per day.

Another thing is that in the Install Log, I get this message which I think is one of, or possibly "the" reason for the constant download shutdowns, and this is copied right from the Install Log.

Jun 17 09:22:47 localhost Install OS X Mavericks[380]: Machine not in database, falling back to app store...

Jun 17 09:22:48 localhost Unknown[360]: 2014-06-17 09:22:48.431 Install OS X Mavericks[380:1003] Couldn't find app store version, falling back to hardcoded

Whatever.

It's a flippant comment to say that "somebody removed the file" because unless my dog has learned to use this comp... well, you get the picture.

The file just never gets downloaded... obviously... because all I do is to let the process continue, and then constantly restart the download time and time again.

This has been going on since Snow Leopard.

Apparently utilities that delete caches are responsible for this.

I've also been seeing a lot of XPCD errors on my machine. This is how the XPCD errors would appear in the Console:

xpcd[224]: Info.plist does not contain an XPCService dictionary: /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/XPCServices/SecurityAgent.xpc

This was driving me crazy, but I figured out how to fix it on my 2013 Macbook Air on OS X 10.9.4. Use at your own risk.

Any comments are welcome!

How to fix XPCD errors in OS X 10.9 Mavericks

DISCLAIMER: Editing system files and using the sudo command can be dangerous if done improperly. I am not responsible for any damage or data loss that may occur on your machine from following this procedure. Use at your own risk.

!!For some reason the Apple Community forums is adding a space in 'Contents'... Not sure why. This makes the commands fail. Remove the space. Posted correctly here: http://goo.gl/Z3KwGi!!

1. Open Terminal

2. Backup the /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/XPCServices/SecurityAgent.xpc/Con tents/Info.plist file. This command will make a copy of the file on your desktop in case anything goes wrong:

cp /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/XPCServices/SecurityAgent.xpc/Con tents/Info.plist ~/Desktop/Info.plist

3. Enter this command to add the XPCService dictionary to the SecurityAgent.xpc Info.plist:

sudo defaults write /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/XPCServices/SecurityAgent.xpc/Con tents/Info.plist XPCService -dict-add ServiceType System

4. Next convert the plist back to the XML it was originally in with this:

sudo plutil -convert xml1 /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/XPCServices/SecurityAgent.xpc/Con tents/Info.plist

5. Finally make sure the permissions are how they were originally by running these commands:

sudo chown root:wheel /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/XPCServices/SecurityAgent.xpc/Con tents/Info.plist

sudo chmod 644 /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/XPCServices/SecurityAgent.xpc/Con tents/Info.plist

6. Restart your computer for good measure. If all went well, the XPCD errors should be gone from the console.

For ease, here are the commands listed above in a single block:

cp /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/XPCServices/SecurityAgent.xpc/Con tents/Info.plist ~/Desktop/Info.plist

sudo defaults write /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/XPCServices/SecurityAgent.xpc/Con tents/Info.plist XPCService -dict-add ServiceType System

sudo plutil -convert xml1 /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/XPCServices/SecurityAgent.xpc/Con tents/Info.plist

sudo chown root:wheel /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/XPCServices/SecurityAgent.xpc/Con tents/Info.plist

sudo chmod 644 /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/XPCServices/SecurityAgent.xpc/Con tents/Info.plist

Hope this helps.

> forums is adding a space ...

Very weird. After that it loses a space from the next command:

2014-07-28 08:41:48.570 defaults[1886:507] Unexpected argument -dict-add; leaving defaults unchanged.

I hope Apple's programmers aren't using the same editor that Apple's forum is using.

Thanks for catching that - I tried messing with the post formatting a bit but don't feel like sorting through this bug. I uploaded just the commands here: http://txt.do/kn3i

Also, if that worked for you let me know!

Didn't work, sorry to say. Tried several times.