How to stop Wi-Fi debug logging in /private/tmp?

Question

I am not sure why this is happening, but on my macbook macOS Sierra log files are being written to /private/tmp that look like this:

wifi-11-25-2019__21:01:29.log   wifi-11-25-2019__21:06:18.log
wifi-11-25-2019__21:01:30.log   wifi-11-25-2019__21:06:19.log
wifi-11-25-2019__21:01:31.log   wifi-11-25-2019__21:06:20.log
wifi-11-25-2019__21:01:32.log   wifi-11-25-2019__21:06:21.log
wifi-11-25-2019__21:01:33.log   wifi-11-25-2019__21:06:22.log
wifi-11-25-2019__21:01:34.log   wifi-11-25-2019__21:06:23.log
wifi-11-25-2019__21:01:35.log   wifi-11-25-2019__21:06:24.log
wifi-11-25-2019__21:01:36.log

The only reason I found this was because System was over 100GB and I investigated with Disk Inventory X and saw the log files wasting my SSD. I have a feeling it is the airport utility.

How can I stop this from happening?

I option-clicked the Wi-Fi menu, unfortunately I only have "Create Diagnostics Report..." and "Open wireless diagnostics..." there.

Logs:

Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 SC: <airportd[57]> scInitInterface for device en0 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 Info: <airportd[57]> psCallback: powerSource = Battery Power 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 Info: <airportd[57]> psCallback: set powersave max throughput on en0 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 Roam: <airportd[57]> _initInterface: AirPort Interface <en0> <4> 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 P2P: <airportd[57]> _createP2PDeviceInterface: Attempting to create P2P device interface for en0 (attemptNumber = 0) 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 P2P: <airportd[57]> _createP2PDeviceInterface: Created P2P device interface p2p0 with address a:f9:d3:54:f9:91 for en0 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 P2P: <airportd[57]> CreateVirtualInterface: Attempting to create AWDL interface for en0 with MAC address 5e:97:e7:64:ff:ac (attemptNumber = 0) 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 P2P: <airportd[57]> CreateVirtualInterface: Created AWDL interface awdl0 with address 5e:97:e7:64:ff:ac for en0 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 SC: <airportd[57]> CoreCapture preference: 0 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 SC: <airportd[57]> finished with CoreCapture preferences 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 <airportd[57]> airportdProcessDLILEvent: en0 attached (up) 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 Driver Discovery: <airportd[57]> airportdProcessDLILEvent: en0 attached (up) 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 BTC: <airportd[57]> BluetoothCoexStatusMonitoringCallback: Bluetooth Status Notification 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 Driver Discovery: <airportd[57]> _interfaceAdded: p2p0 added. 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 Driver Discovery: <airportd[57]> _initInterface: p2p0 is down 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 SC: <airportd[57]> scInitInterface for device p2p0 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 Roam: <airportd[57]> _initInterface: AirPort Interface <p2p0> <5> 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 BTC: <airportd[57]> __BluetoothCoexHandleUpdateForNode: <en0> Handle Bluetooth Coex: FrequencyBand <0>, Bluetooth Bandwidth Utilization <0>, Clamshell Mode <0> 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 BTC: <airportd[57]> BluetoothCoexSetProfile: Old 2.4GHz BT Coex profiles: { 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "BTC_PROF_BAND" = 8; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "BTC_PROF_NUM" = 0; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 } 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 Roam: <airportd[57]> DISABLED, 2.4GHz on en0 => { 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF" = ( 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 { 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF_BACKOFF_MULTIPLIER" = 10; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF_FULLSCAN_PERIOD" = 3000; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF_INIT_SCAN_PERIOD" = 600; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF_MAX_SCAN_PERIOD" = 60000; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF_NFSCAN" = 1; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF_ROAM_DELTA" = 50; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF_ROAM_FLAGS" = 0; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF_ROAM_TRIGGER" = "-120"; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF_RSSI_BOOST_DELTA" = 0; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF_RSSI_BOOST_THRESH" = 0; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF_RSSI_LOWER" = "-128"; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 } 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 ); 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF_BAND" = 4; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 "ROAM_PROF_NUM" = 1; 
Tue Nov 26 14:37:28.858 } 

... 

Tue Nov 26 19:05:20.757 AutoJoin: <airportd[57]> Successful cache-assisted background scan request with channels {( 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:20.757 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf722c00> [channelNumber=161(5GHz), channelWidth={20MHz}, active], 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:20.757 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf7272c0> [channelNumber=165(5GHz), channelWidth={20MHz}, active], 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:20.757 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf724690> [channelNumber=52(5GHz), channelWidth={40MHz(+1)}, DFS] 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:20.757 )} took 0.1287 seconds, returned 0 results 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:21.227 AutoJoin: <airportd[57]> Successful cache-assisted background scan request with channels {( 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:21.227 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf75cb60> [channelNumber=56(5GHz), channelWidth={40MHz(-1)}, DFS], 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:21.227 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf72d900> [channelNumber=60(5GHz), channelWidth={40MHz(+1)}, DFS], 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:21.227 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf716e70> [channelNumber=64(5GHz), channelWidth={40MHz(-1)}, DFS] 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:21.227 )} took 0.4700 seconds, returned 0 results 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:21.228 Info: <Wi-Fi Menu Extra[263]> scan cache updated 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:21.699 AutoJoin: <airportd[57]> Successful cache-assisted background scan request with channels {( 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:21.699 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf726450> [channelNumber=100(5GHz), channelWidth={40MHz(+1)}, DFS], 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:21.699 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf7222d0> [channelNumber=104(5GHz), channelWidth={40MHz(-1)}, DFS], 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:21.699 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf709420> [channelNumber=108(5GHz), channelWidth={40MHz(+1)}, DFS] 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:21.699 )} took 0.4709 seconds, returned 0 results 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.172 AutoJoin: <airportd[57]> Successful cache-assisted background scan request with channels {( 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.173 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf731240> [channelNumber=112(5GHz), channelWidth={40MHz(-1)}, DFS], 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.173 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf71a840> [channelNumber=116(5GHz), channelWidth={40MHz(+1)}, DFS], 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.173 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf763e10> [channelNumber=120(5GHz), channelWidth={40MHz(-1)}, DFS] 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.173 )} took 0.4737 seconds, returned 0 results 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.646 AutoJoin: <airportd[57]> Successful cache-assisted background scan request with channels {( 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.646 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf71aeb0> [channelNumber=124(5GHz), channelWidth={20MHz}, DFS], 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.646 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf7676f0> [channelNumber=128(5GHz), channelWidth={40MHz(-1)}, DFS], 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.646 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf70ce10> [channelNumber=132(5GHz), channelWidth={40MHz(+1)}, DFS] 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.646 )} took 0.4730 seconds, returned 0 results 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.646 Info: <Wi-Fi Menu Extra[263]> scan cache updated 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.948 AutoJoin: <airportd[57]> Successful cache-assisted background scan request with channels {( 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.948 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf728ea0> [channelNumber=136(5GHz), channelWidth={40MHz(-1)}, DFS], 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.948 <CWChannel: 0x7fabdf70b540> [channelNumber=140(5GHz), channelWidth={20MHz}, DFS] 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:22.948 )} took 0.3022 seconds, returned 0 results 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:23.623 Driver Event: <airportd[57]> _bsd_80211_event_callback: DUMP_LOGS (en0) 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:24.623 Driver Event: <airportd[57]> _bsd_80211_event_callback: DUMP_LOGS (en0) 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:25.623 Driver Event: <airportd[57]> _bsd_80211_event_callback: DUMP_LOGS (en0) 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:25.690 Info: <CoreWLAN PPPController[263]> canceling poll timer 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:26.634 Driver Event: <airportd[57]> _bsd_80211_event_callback: DUMP_LOGS (en0) 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:27.630 Driver Event: <airportd[57]> _bsd_80211_event_callback: DUMP_LOGS (en0) 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:28.625 Driver Event: <airportd[57]> _bsd_80211_event_callback: DUMP_LOGS (en0) 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:29.624 Driver Event: <airportd[57]> _bsd_80211_event_callback: DUMP_LOGS (en0) 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:30.623 Driver Event: <airportd[57]> _bsd_80211_event_callback: DUMP_LOGS (en0) 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:31.627 Driver Event: <airportd[57]> _bsd_80211_event_callback: DUMP_LOGS (en0) 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:32.627 Driver Event: <airportd[57]> _bsd_80211_event_callback: DUMP_LOGS (en0) 
Tue Nov 26 19:05:33.633 Driver Event: <airportd[57]> _bsd_80211_event_callback: DUMP_LOGS (en0)

I have the same in my machine at work but not in my machine at home. Both are running El Capitan. — lhf, Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 12:08

Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-15 08:04:25Z

4

As in the discussion in chat, OP fixed the issue by upgrading to High Sierra.

https://superuser.com/a/1253364 also documents a possible bug in Sierra, where the answerer downgraded to El Capitan.

Hold option key and click on Wi-Fi icon in menu bar. Third or Fourth from the top would be enable/disable Wi-Fi logging.
Open Airport Utility, Preferences and untick "Monitor AirPort base stations for problems".

https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/aputility/aprt3fa98818/6.3.9/mac/10.15
Open Wireless Diagnostics.app, go to Window Menu. I find Logs and Sniffer to be of interest. Click on Logs, Refresh for the sake of refresh and make sure that all of them are unticked. Then restart.

In Sniffer, "Start" would require admin password. Start and then stop.

http://osxdaily.com/2015/04/23/sniff-packet-capture-packet-trace-mac-os-x-wireless-diagnostics/

edited Jun 15, 2020 at 8:04

CommunityBot

1

answered Nov 25, 2019 at 19:33

anki

11.9k7 gold badges35 silver badges71 bronze badges

Thanks for the answer but unfortunately I only have Create Diagnostics Report... and Open wireless diagnostics...
– tread
Commented Nov 25, 2019 at 19:41
10.12.6 MacOS Sierra
– tread
Commented Nov 25, 2019 at 19:46
Managed to see this Sniffing on channel 1: airport en1 sniff 1 when using airport
– tread
Commented Nov 25, 2019 at 19:48
Open Airport Utility, Preferences and untick "Monitor AirPort base stations for problems"
– anki
Commented Nov 25, 2019 at 19:54
It is unchecked. I am worried now - someone has turned on sniffing and I can't find any way to disable.
– tread
Commented Nov 25, 2019 at 20:00

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