running gpg to encrypt file from crontab
 

Hi there,

I have wriiten a bash script to encrypt a file using gpg, when i manually run it the script successfully encrypts the file, but when i put it in a cron it doesnt seem to work.
I am using RedHat 9.
I setup the cron usong crontab -e but still it didnt work, then i directly put it in the /etc/crontab file

my crontab looks like this

/etc/crontab
SHELL=/bin/bash
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
MAILTO=root
HOME=/

# run-parts
01 * * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.hourly
02 4 * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.daily
22 4 * * 0 root run-parts /etc/cron.weekly
42 4 1 * * root run-parts /etc/cron.monthly
30 11 * * * root /1.sh > /tmp/ab.log

sample script

#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/gpg --output /tmp/2.gpg --recipient greg --encrypt /letter

But the cron doesnt seem to work.

I am using gpg version 1.2.1

Please can anyone tell me what is wrong


Thanks in advance

~
~

hello,
Will you look into /var/log/cron. can you post your "tail -25 /var/log/cron" results here.

Hi,
Here are the last 20 lines of my cron.

May 28 12:01:00 arsha CROND[15108]: (root) CMD (run-parts /etc/cron.hourly)
May 28 12:53:00 arsha crond[15025]: (*system*) RELOAD (/etc/crontab)
May 28 12:54:50 arsha crond[15255]: (CRON) STARTUP (fork ok)
May 28 12:57:00 arsha CROND[15282]: (root) CMD (/tmp/2.sh)
May 28 12:58:19 arsha crond[15305]: (CRON) STARTUP (fork ok)
May 28 12:59:00 arsha CROND[15312]: (root) CMD (/tmp/2.sh)
May 28 13:00:19 arsha crond[15337]: (CRON) STARTUP (fork ok)
May 28 13:01:00 arsha CROND[15343]: (root) CMD (run-parts /etc/cron.hourly)
May 28 13:04:36 arsha crond[15374]: (CRON) STARTUP (fork ok)
May 28 13:07:00 arsha CROND[15381]: (root) CMD (/tmp/1.sh)
May 28 13:18:55 arsha crond[15898]: (CRON) STARTUP (fork ok)
May 28 13:19:06 arsha crontab[15901]: (root) LIST (root)
May 28 13:19:21 arsha crontab[15902]: (root) BEGIN EDIT (root)
May 28 13:19:25 arsha crontab[15902]: (root) REPLACE (root)
May 28 13:19:25 arsha crontab[15902]: (root) END EDIT (root)
May 28 13:19:26 arsha crontab[15904]: (root) LIST (root)
May 28 13:20:00 arsha crond[15898]: (*system*) RELOAD (/etc/crontab)
May 28 13:20:00 arsha crond[15898]: (root) RELOAD (cron/root)
May 28 13:20:08 arsha crond[15922]: (CRON) STARTUP (fork ok)
May 28 13:25:00 arsha CROND[15953]: (root) CMD (/tmp/1.sh > /tmp/ab.log)


i tried writing the log to abother file
25 13 * * * root /tmp/1.sh > /tmp/ab.log

but that file gives me nothing after the cron exceutes

i really dont know what the hell to do

[QUOTE=aeby]Hi,
Here are the last 20 lines of my cron.

May 28 12:01:00 arsha CROND[15108]: (root) CMD (run-parts /etc/cron.hourly)
May 28 12:53:00 arsha crond[15025]: (*system*) RELOAD (/etc/crontab)
May 28 12:54:50 arsha crond[15255]: (CRON) STARTUP (fork ok)
May 28 12:57:00 arsha CROND[15282]: (root) CMD (/tmp/2.sh)
May 28 12:58:19 arsha crond[15305]: (CRON) STARTUP (fork ok)
May 28 12:59:00 arsha CROND[15312]: (root) CMD (/tmp/2.sh)
May 28 13:00:19 arsha crond[15337]: (CRON) STARTUP (fork ok)
May 28 13:01:00 arsha CROND[15343]: (root) CMD (run-parts /etc/cron.hourly)
May 28 13:04:36 arsha crond[15374]: (CRON) STARTUP (fork ok)
May 28 13:07:00 arsha CROND[15381]: (root) CMD (/tmp/1.sh)
May 28 13:18:55 arsha crond[15898]: (CRON) STARTUP (fork ok)
May 28 13:19:06 arsha crontab[15901]: (root) LIST (root)
May 28 13:19:21 arsha crontab[15902]: (root) BEGIN EDIT (root)
May 28 13:19:25 arsha crontab[15902]: (root) REPLACE (root)
May 28 13:19:25 arsha crontab[15902]: (root) END EDIT (root)
May 28 13:19:26 arsha crontab[15904]: (root) LIST (root)
May 28 13:20:00 arsha crond[15898]: (*system*) RELOAD (/etc/crontab)
May 28 13:20:00 arsha crond[15898]: (root) RELOAD (cron/root)
May 28 13:20:08 arsha crond[15922]: (CRON) STARTUP (fork ok)
May 28 13:25:00 arsha CROND[15953]: (root) CMD (/tmp/1.sh > /tmp/ab.log)


i tried writing the log to abother file
25 13 * * * root /tmp/1.sh > /tmp/ab.log

cat /tmp/ab.log gives me an empty file with no contect after the cron exceutes

i really dont know what to do

please check the following
As log shows, it is running the job
1)check the script is ok( sh 1.sh)
If it is ok, check the path in crontab(seems to me, u r missing a / before root)
30 11 * * * /root/1.sh>/tmp/ab.log

All the best

Hi

The root in the above crontab is not in the path, it specifies that is is issued for the user root

Any more suggestions, if i take that out the cron doesnt execute


Thanks

oh... it is user root!!!! :)
But am getting the output.
its writing a file it /tmp
May 28 17:40:01 **** crond[6026]: (root) CMD (/root/1.sh > /tmp/ab.log)
May 28 17:41:01 **** crond[6032]: (root) CMD (/root/1.sh > /tmp/ab.log)

please the script

Hi,

what i am asking is only as part of a script i actually have to encrypt and transfer files between branches,

so the line of the script that i gave you is a test one for encrypting, i want the script to run from cron, i run the script from terminal maually it is fine,
but the script i mentioned above doesnt want to run form cron


the line of the script that does the encryption is this

gpg --output /tmp/2.gpg --recipient greg --encrypt /letter

i am just testing it takes a file under /tmp and encrypts it under /tmp just for testing purposes.


Thank for all the help, what to do now????

Hi,

i know that it is writing the crontab file /tmp/ab.log but it is not doing the encryption part in the script, the cron is working as per logs but it is not doing the encryption.

but when i run the script test.sh to encrypt it works fine

Aeby