Minecraft wiki entry for Create_a_Mac_OS_X_startup_daemon, associated text: You need a few files in order to make this work adequately. It could be done with less files, but it's more readable that way. Please copy them carefully and modify what has to be modified accordingly. One good option is to use vim as a text editor since it keeps my carriage returns at their proper places and doesn't try to be intelligent with me. However, it's also (with emacs) one of the hardest editor to use, from another era. GUI-wise, Apple TextEdit should be fine for this, as long as you follow the instructions from the Mac OS X Setting up a server page (IE: Make as Plain Text). Note: these should be created in a temporary location, like your desktop. Instructions for moving to the final location are further below.