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Part II – Advanced Bash and macOS Security Scripting

This section takes your Bash skills further, focusing on advanced scripting techniques, macOS internals, and secure automation practices.

What you'll learn:

  • Chapter 6: Writing robust scripts with conditionals, loops, and functions
  • Chapter 7: Understanding Unix file permissions and using chmod, chown, and find to audit file access
  • Chapter 8: Techniques for error handling, debugging with set -x, and logging with trap
  • Chapter 9: Managing environment variables, configuration files (.bash_profile, .bashrc), and user sessions on macOS
  • Chapter 10: Working with launchd, launchctl, and understanding System Integrity Protection (SIP)
  • Chapter 11: Practical security hardening: safe input handling, avoiding code injection, and least privilege principles
  • Chapter 12: Integrating Bash with macOS tools like AppleScript (osascript), Keychain access, and MDM verification
  • Chapter 13: Building interactive GUI-driven scripts with osascript, swiftDialog, and Platypus for user-friendly automation

By the end of this part, you'll be able to write resilient, security-focused Bash scripts ready for enterprise deployment on macOS fleets.