Location Changer

It automatically changes OS X’s network location based on the name of Wi-Fi network and runs arbitrary scrips when it happens.

Installation & Update

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

It will ask you for a root password to install locationchanger to the /usr/local/bin directory.

Basic usage

You have to name network locations after Wi-Fi networks. Let’s say, you need to have a specific network preferences for “Corp Wi-Fi” wireless network, then you have to create a location “Corp Wi-Fi”. Now, the network location will change to “Corp Wi-Fi” automatically, if you connect to that wireless network. And if you connect to the Wi-Fi network that you don’t have a location for, then the location will change to the default one (“Automatic”).

If you want to run a script every time you connect to a specific Wi-Fi network, then put those scripts in ~/.locations and name them after Wi-Fi networks (making sure you set corresponding network locations). For instance, you have a script that changes security preferences when you connect to the “Corp Wi-Fi” network:

#!/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'

Then name this script as ~/.locations/Corp Wi-Fi. And you might want to create ~/.locations/Automatic that will reset those changes:

#!/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'

Aliasing

If you want to share one network location between different wireless networks (for instance, you have a wireless router which broadcasts on 2.4 and 5GHz bands simultaneously), then you can create a configuration file ~/.locations/locations.conf (plain text file with simple key-value pairs, no spaces in between):

Wi-Fi_5GHz=Wi-Fi

Where the keys are the wireless network names and the values are the desired location names.

Troubleshooting

It writes quite extensive information to the log file every time the wireless network changes:

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

Sample output:

Connected to 'Wi-Fi_5GHz'
Will switch the location to 'Wi-Fi' (configuration file)
Changing the location to 'Wi-Fi'
Running '~/.locations/Wi-Fi'