Location Changer

Please note, this is a fork of the original Location Changer by Anton Eprev

Location Changer automatically changes the macOS network location based on the name of the Wi-Fi network or a manually configured Location. It can also run a custom script to perform additional actions when changing the Location.

Installation & Updates

curl -L https://github.com/sashagavrilov/locationchanger/raw/master/locationchanger.sh | bash

You must be an Administrator to install Location Changer and it will ask you for your password. The locationchanger executable is installed in /usr/local/bin by default. If you would like to install it elsewhere, please download the source and edit the INSTALL_DIR variable (on Line 3) prior to installation.

Basic Usage

Basic usage of Location Changer involves having Location names that match your Wi-Fi Network SSIDs (e.g. a macOS Location with the name Home Wi-Fi will correspond to the Wi-Fi Network SSID Home WiFi). When joining a Wi-Fi network, Location Changer will look for a Location whose name matches that of the SSID and will switch accordingly.

If Location Changer is unable to find a Location name matching the SSID, it will default to 'Automatic'. The default Location name can be changed by editing the DEFAULT_LOCATION variable in the config file.

Advanced Usage

Location Changer will select the Location to change to using the following precedence:

1. A manually configured Location
2. A Location name that matches the SSID
3. The default Location

Manually Configuring Locations

Location Changer includes support for manually mapping Locations to Wi-Fi SSIDs. This is useful, e.g., if you'd like to have a Location name that does not match the SSID or would like to use a Location for more than one SSID.

One example might be if your home Wi-Fi network is broadcasted on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz as Home Wi-Fi and Home Wi-Fi 5G, respectively. Instead of maintaining Locations for each SSID, a user can manually configure the same Location to be used with both.

Location Changer can also be disabled for certain locations. This is usefull, e.g., if you want to set Location manually and don't want it to be automatically changed back.

Configuration happens in ${HOME}/Library/Application Support/LocationChanger/LocationChanger.conf by default. On installation a default config file is generated. The config file is in ini-format and contains trhe sections: General , Automatic and Manual.

The General defines two configurable variables. DEFAULT_LOCATION specifies the Location to use, if the current WiFi is not configured explicitly. The default is 'Automatic' ENABLE_NOTIFICATIONS spec ifies the notification behaviour. Set it to 1 to enable notifications. For verbose notifications, set to 2. To disable, set to 0.

The Automatic section defines mapping for Wi-Fi Network SSIDs as key-value pairs in the following format. Spaces are supported for both the SSID as well as the Location name, but all spaces around the = will be trimmed. Additionally, do not enclose the SSID or Location in quotes.

The Manual section contains a list of Location names for wich autodetection should be ignored.

[Automatic]
SSID=Location
Home Wi-Fi=Home
SSID With Spaces=Location Name With Spaces

[Manual]
Wi-Fi Only

Running Custom Scripts When Changing Locations

Location Changer includes support for running custom scripts when switching Locations. Scripts should be:

• installed into the directory ${HOME}/Library/Application Support/LocationChanger
• named identically to the Location (e.g. Home Wi-Fi and not Home Wi-Fi.sh; if using manually configured Locations, please ensure the name matches the Location and not the SSID)
• be executable

Examples

You may want to set your computer to require a password to unlock while at work. By creating a script that matches the work Location name (e.g. ${HOME}/Library/Application Support/LocationChanger/Work), this script can perform that configuration automatically when changing to the Work Location.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
exec 2>&1

# Require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to set require password to wake of security preferences to true'

You may also want to create a script that reverses those changes when you're at home, so you don't have to enter your password to unlock your computer. You can save this as ${HOME}/Library/Application Support/LocationChanger/Home if your home's SSID is Home or you have manually configured the Home Location to be used for your home's Wi-Fi SSID. Alternatively, it could be saved to your default Location (Automatic, by default) if using the default location at home: ${HOME}/Library/Application Support/LocationChanger/Automatic

#!/usr/bin/env bash
exec 2>&1

# Don’t require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to set require password to wake of security preferences to false'

Notifications

Location Changer includes support for notifications through the macOS Notification system (via the AppleScript/osascript interface). By default, Location Changer will display a notification whenever the Location is changed. This behavior can be changed by editing the ENABLE_NOTIFICATIONS variable in the config file. The following values are accepted:

• 0 - disable notifications
• 1 - enable notifications whenever the Location is changed
• 2 - enable notifications whenever a Wi-Fi network is joined, regardless of if the Location was changed

Troubleshooting

Logging information is written to ${HOME}/Library/Logs/LocationChanger.log by default. Inspecting this log can be helpful when troubleshooting issues.

tail -f ~/Library/Logs/LocationChanger.log

Sample output:

[2018-03-05 06:23:18] Connected to 'Home Wi-Fi'
[2018-03-05 06:23:18] Will switch the Location to 'DHCP' (found in configuration file)
[2018-03-05 06:23:18] Changing the Location to 'DHCP'
[2018-03-05 06:23:18] CurrentSet updated to 3BA418DE-3C72-2EAB-A8A6-B71C42189204 (DHCP)
[2018-03-05 06:23:19] Running script: '/Users/username/.locations/DHCP'