Logout hooks for dummies

Question

Could somebody please explain in layman's terms how to set up logout hooks?
I found several recipes on the web all suggesting modifying the loginwindow plist but none of this has worked for me.

Answer 1

Thanks.
biovizier wrote:
Actually, the method of configuring "logout hooks" depends on the OS X version - Apple keeps moving it around so a method for one version may not work on another.
I run 10.5.2. does this make a difference to what you suggest?
Since 10.4, the login window hooks go in the "com.apple.loginwindow.plist" file in the "root" account's "Preferences" folder (i.e. "/private/var/root/Library/Preferences"). The property name is 'LoginHook' or 'LogoutHook" respectively for the two types (both are case-sensitive), and the value should be the full path to the script.
Using the 'defaults' command as "root" is probably the easiest way to set them up, as in:<pre>
sudo /usr/bin/defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook /path/to/script</pre>
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301446
Note that loginwindow hooks run as "root" so the script should be stored in a location such that its entire path is write protected against anyone other than "root". It is also probably a good idea to make sure the script works correctly in "Terminal.app" before letting it run as "root" automatically as a hook.
This is exactly what i tried earlier except I used
sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook /path/to/script
isn't that the same thing? I tried out the script first and it works. I'll try again with your command.
Message was edited by: V.K.