For Mountain Lion, how does Apple define the Transparent App Lifecycle (TAL)?
Definition
Apple's talagent(8) OS X Manual Page (2010-09-01, long before Lion was released) mentions but does not define the Transparent App Lifecycle feature.
Some time before Lion was released, I understood that the TAL comprised:
- auto save
- versions
- resume.
Now, I'm not so sure. (Suspect that versions are not strictly speaking within the TAL, because not all apps that support the cycle also support versions.)
Please, can anyone give a better answer than the one below?
Something shorter and more definite – maybe with reference to a single e-mail or page from Apple – will be ideal. Thanks.
Side note, an issue with 10.8
macbookpro08-centrim:~ gjp22$ sw_vers
ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.8
BuildVersion: 12A269
macbookpro08-centrim:~ gjp22$ man talagent
macbookpro08-centrim:~ gjp22$ which talagent
macbookpro08-centrim:~ gjp22$ talagent
-bash: talagent: command not found
macbookpro08-centrim:~ gjp22$
– the command can not be run manually as described in the manual. I'll feed a bug report to Apple. Instead, for example:
/System/Library/CoreServices/talagent -dump Finder
Solution 1:
Lion
Carbon Framework Release Notes (2011-04-11, three months before the OS was released) placed three things under Transparent App Lifecycle in relation to a seed of the OS:
- persistent state
- sudden termination
- automatic termination.
Mountain Lion
In Mac App Programming Guide: The Core App Design (2012-07-23, two days before the OS was released) the app life cycle is:
… the progress of an app from its launch through its termination. …
then automatic and sudden termination are:
… techniques that make the termination of an app transparent …
(Unsurprisingly, no mention of Carbon in that guide.)
Summary
Maybe the 2010 man page for talagent
, in both Lion and Mountain Lion, uses an expression (Transparent App Lifecycle) that was outdated before Lion was released.