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 performadditional actions when changing the Location.

1. Clone/Download this project: git clone https://github.com/Nordkuma/locationchanger.git
2. cd locationchanger
3. ./install.sh

This will install the script to the configured INSTALL_DIR (usr/local/bin by default) and copy the configuration files to the specified locations. The .plist-file sets up a LaunchAgent that will run the script on network changes.

You must be an Administrator to install Location Changer and it will ask you for your password.

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 Wi-Fi). 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.

Location Changer's configuration happens in ${HOME}/.locationchanger/LocationChanger.conf by default. On installation a default config file is generated. The config file is in ini-format and contains the sections: General, Automatic and Manual.

The General defines three configurable variables. DEFAULT_LOCATION specifies the Location to use, if the current WiFi is not configured explicitly. The default is 'Automatic'. ENABLE_NOTIFICATIONS specifies the notification behaviour. Set it to 1 to enable notifications. For verbose notifications, set to 2. To disable, set to 0. ENABLE_SCRIPTS specifies the custom script behaviour. To run script on Location changes, set to 1. To run on network changes, 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 which autodetection should be ignored.

[General]
DEFAULT_LOCATION=Automatic
ENABLE_NOTIFICATIONS=1
ENABLE_SCRIPTS=1

[Automatic]
Home Wi-Fi=Home
Home Wi-Fi 5G=Home

[Manual]
Wi-Fi only

More detailed descriptions of these features are provided in the following sections.

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

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 useful, e.g., if you want to set Location manually and don't want it to be automatically changed back.

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

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

• installed into the directory ${HOME}/.locationchanger/Scripts
• 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

When the script is run, the SSID gets passed as an argument, so can use it with $1.

By default, Location Changer will run custom scripts on Location changes. This behavior can be changed by editing the ENABLE_SCRIPTS variable in the config file. The following values are accepted:

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

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}/.locationchanger/Scripts/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}/.locationchanger/Scripts/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}/.locationchanger/Scripts/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'

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/.locationchanger/DHCP'

Running ./uninstall.sh will remove all the copied files. Be sure to check the paths if you modified them in the install script.