This is a patch (with commentary) that fixes a memory leak in 24.3 for OSX Mavericks (10.9) users who experience excessive resource consumption by distnoted.

emacs.memory.leak.aka.distnoted.patch.diff

From 8ab91751069e391a95151c6716a546b1732ade92 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: JP <twitter:canoeberry>
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 11:58:54 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] partial memleak fix

This patch was created by JP (twitter: @canoeberry) based on a memleak fix by Dirk (emacs committer) below:
https://github.com/mirrors/emacs/commit/57ae6509a3b6a274f89b9caea0284c6156470625

This memory leak is fixed in the trunk as of now and will be in the next official release: 24.4.

However, many of us using cocoa emacs on Mavericks experience random spikes in cpu and excessive resource consumption due to distnoted. This patch potentially fixes emacs-related distnoted issues you may be experiencing.

Steps to use this patch:

You can download a patched version of the source code below:
http://jpayne.net/emacs/

Alternatively, you can patch it yourself:

1. download this patch
2. download emacs
3. apply patch
4. do the configure, make stuff
5. enjoy

curl -O http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/emacs-24.3.tar.gz
tar xvfz emacs-24.3.tar.gz

patch -p1 < ../emacs.memory.leak.aka.distnoted.patch.diff
./configure --with-ns --without-x
make bootstrap
make install
open nextstep/Emacs.app


---
 src/nsterm.h |  4 ++++
 src/nsterm.m | 44 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 2 files changed, 46 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/nsterm.h b/src/nsterm.h
index 806cfcc..aa2a532 100644
--- a/src/nsterm.h
+++ b/src/nsterm.h
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
 /* We override sendEvent: as a means to stop/start the event loop */
 @interface EmacsApp : NSApplication
 {
+#if MAC_OS_X_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED >= MAC_OS_X_VERSION_10_9
+  BOOL shouldKeepRunning;
+  BOOL isFirst;
+#endif
 }
 - (void)logNotification: (NSNotification *)notification;
 - (void)sendEvent: (NSEvent *)theEvent;
diff --git a/src/nsterm.m b/src/nsterm.m
index a57e744..324f065 100644
--- a/src/nsterm.m
+++ b/src/nsterm.m
@@ -3373,7 +3373,7 @@ ns_read_socket (struct terminal *terminal, struct input_event *hold_quit)
   if ([NSApp modalWindow] != nil)
     return -1;
 
-  if (hold_event_q.nr > 0) 
+  if (hold_event_q.nr > 0)
     {
       int i;
       for (i = 0; i < hold_event_q.nr; ++i)
@@ -3447,7 +3447,7 @@ ns_select (int nfds, fd_set *readfds, fd_set *writefds,
 
 /*  NSTRACE (ns_select); */
 
-  if (hold_event_q.nr > 0) 
+  if (hold_event_q.nr > 0)
     {
       /* We already have events pending. */
       kill (0, SIGIO);
@@ -4270,6 +4270,46 @@ ns_term_shutdown (int sig)
 
 @implementation EmacsApp
 
+#if MAC_OS_X_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED >= MAC_OS_X_VERSION_10_9
+- (id)init
+{
+  if (self = [super init])
+    self->isFirst = YES;
+
+  return self;
+}
+
+- (void)run
+{
+    NSAutoreleasePool *pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
+
+    if (isFirst) [self finishLaunching];
+    isFirst = NO;
+
+    shouldKeepRunning = YES;
+    do
+    {
+        [pool release];
+        pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
+
+        NSEvent *event =
+          [self nextEventMatchingMask:NSAnyEventMask
+                            untilDate:[NSDate distantFuture]
+                               inMode:NSDefaultRunLoopMode
+                              dequeue:YES];
+        [self sendEvent:event];
+        [self updateWindows];
+    } while (shouldKeepRunning);
+
+    [pool release];
+}
+
+- (void)stop: (id)sender
+{
+    shouldKeepRunning = NO;
+}
+#endif
+
 - (void)logNotification: (NSNotification *)notification
 {
   const char *name = [[notification name] UTF8String];
-- 
1.8.4.2