Mac OS X includes a tool used for executing maintenance scripts with different periods. The name of this tool is "periodic". The tool periodic runs scripts with three periods (daily,weekly and monthly). The periodic program is called by the daemon cron and runs executable files located in periodic's directories. Please be advised that under certain circumstances the weekly script is known to take up to 15 minutes to complete.
Default daily scripts:
Default weekly scripts:
Default monthly script:
How periodic is the periodic program?
The daily script is usually executed early in the mornings. Weekly maintenance is planned to Sunday mornings and the monthly script at the first day of a new month.