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Apple has asked me to run "sysdiagnose" in connection with a bug report I've submitted, and they've given me two alternative methods:

1. Run "sudo sysdiagnose" in Terminal
2. Press Shift-Control-Option-Command-Period

What's got me curious, though, is that the Terminal command requires sudo (I've tried, and it won't run without a password.) while the keyboard command doesn't require authentication.

Isn't that an unusual contradiction?

Looking at the man page for sysdiagnose in Terminal reveals the full depth of what it accomplishes....and the reason that it requires sudo from the command line.

In order to access the various reports, directories and run the sub-commands involved it requires root permissions.

When run as a key-chord command, it is already at the correct permission level (doesn't require command line entry permissions) and the default output is written to /var/tmp automatically.

Thanks, but I had already looked at the man page.

I was curious about "sysdiagnose" being the only functionality I've ever run across that requires sudo but can also be run without it.

I guess Apple is telling us that the info that may be acquired is so innocuous that a sudo-override is in no way a liability.

The key command seems to be an accommodation to unsophisticated users in that it not only avoids Terminal, it also brings the sysdiagnose report to the front for those who've got no idea how to get to it on their own.