Troubles using cron+tar for automated backup

nucklebone · 03-09-2007, 12:53 AM

i just had the same problem.

i searced google "using cron to run a script ubuntu" and found this website.

i also, did not have a mail program installed and had to install mailx. as soon as i did, my script (very much the same as yours, ie. using tar for backup) started working with cron. i have no clue why this is the case, but it worked 5 minutes after i installed mailx (i set cron to run 5 minutes after i installed mailx to test).

hope this helps someone else.

nuckleone

magli · 03-09-2007, 02:43 AM

Wow. That's just too much of a coincidence. Sounds like there may be a strange obscure bug with cron on Ubuntu, which mailx magically solves.

Thanks for reporting that - makes me feel better to know that it wasn't all just my imagination.

cheers.

consciouspilot · 02-11-2009, 03:59 PM

I was beating my head up against the wall trying to figure this one out. And, after a bit of web searching, I came up on this page.

I figured, what do I have to lose?

After installing mailx, the tar backup script I wrote that would run perfectly fine manually but would never run properly with a cron worked beautifully. What a redicilous and obscure bug!

klohmann · 07-14-2009, 06:40 PM

Thank you so much! Exact same problem with crontab, and adding mailx solved it immediately. I'd been trying to sort this out for a month, to no avail. If not for this forum, I'd likely be at it for another month, at least. What a bizarre fix -- but thanks nonetheless. I wouldn't have come up with it myself!