How to fix a Cron error

tmick · 09-14-2022, 12:36 PM

Hi all,
I'm getting this error daily:

Code:

Failed to start [Cron] "59 23 * * * /usr/bin/clamscan --exclude-dir=/home/tmick/.clamtk/viruses --exclude-dir=smb4k --exclude-dir=/run/user/tmick/gvfs --exclude-dir=/home/tmick/.gvfs --exclude-dir=.thunderbird --exclude-dir=.mozilla-thunderbird --exclude-dir=.evolution --exclude-dir=Mail --exclude-dir=kmail -i --detect-pua -r /home/tmick --log="$HOME/.clamtk/history/$(date +\%b-\%d-\%Y).log" 2>/dev/null # clamtk-scan".
Loaded: loaded (/var/spool/cron/crontabs/tmick; generated)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2022-09-14 04:58:40 CDT; 1s ago
TriggeredBy: ● cron-tmick-tmick-0.timer
       Docs: man:systemd-crontab-generator(8)
    Process: 3067932 ExecStart=/bin/sh /run/systemd/generator/cron-tmick-tmick-0.sh (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Main PID: 3067932 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
        CPU: 4h 8min 37.583s

But then it seems to succeed(?)

Code:

 
Sep 14 04:58:40 DebianTim sh[3067935]: Data scanned: 55974.41 MB

How do I get it to go away??

Thanks in advance!

uteck · 09-14-2022, 01:19 PM

What is this file?

Quote:

/run/systemd/generator/cron-tmick-tmick-0.sh (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Looks like systemd-cron is getting in the way.

tmick · 11-07-2022, 06:52 PM

Sorry, I didn't get the email you replied.
The line your asking about leads nowhere actually. Here's the file it's talking about:

Code:

[Unit]
Description=[Cron] "59 23 * * * /usr/bin/clamscan --exclude-dir=/home/tmick/.clamtk/viruses --exclude-dir=smb4k --exclude-dir=/run/user/tmick/gvfs --exclude-dir=/home/tmick/.gvfs --exclude-dir=.thunderbird --exclude-dir=.mozilla-thunderbird --exclude-dir=.evolution --exclude-dir=Mail --exclude-dir=kmail -i --detect-pua -r /home/tmick --log="$HOME/.clamtk/history/$(date +\%%b-\%%d-\%%Y).log" 2>/dev/null # clamtk-scan"
Documentation=man:systemd-crontab-generator(8)
SourcePath=/var/spool/cron/crontabs/tmick
OnFailure=cron-failure@%i.service
Requires=systemd-user-sessions.service
RequiresMountsFor=/home/tmick

[Service]
Type=oneshot
IgnoreSIGPIPE=false
KillMode=process
ExecStart=/bin/sh /run/systemd/generator/cron-tmick-tmick-0.sh
User=tmick

michaelk · 11-07-2022, 08:18 PM

Does running the same command from a terminal window work or show any errors (don't redirect errors and remove the %)?

Quote:

--exclude-dir=/run/user/tmick/gvfs

I am not sure if clamscan checks to verify if an excluded directory is a subdirectory of /home/tmick but since /run isn't this can be removed.

I have not played with systemd-cron so don't know how it interprets the %, if there are any caveats or what it uses for an environment.

pan64 · 11-08-2022, 12:21 AM

That clamscan line is just the Description, not relevant, not executed. Actually would be nice to have a correct description instead of that.
From the other hand you need to check what's wrong with that /run/systemd/generator/cron-tmick-tmick-0.sh. I guess you can use journalctl to get additional info about it. And also you can try to execute it manually to see what's going on. But what you posted is not enough to go further.

michaelk · 11-08-2022, 05:19 AM

True, but doesn't systemd cron generater create the files from an actual regular cron job?
But yes cron-tmick-tmick-0.sh does need to be verified.

tmick · 11-08-2022, 04:57 PM

So I ran the command

Code:

/usr/bin/clamscan --exclude-dir=/home/tmick/.clamtk/viruses --exclude-dir=smb4k --exclude-dir=/run/user/tmick/gvfs --exclude-dir=/home/tmick/.gvfs --exclude-dir=.thunderbird --exclude-dir=.mozilla-thunderbird --exclude-dir=.evolution --exclude-dir=Mail --exclude-dir=kmail -i --detect-pua -r /home/tmick --log="$HOME/.clamtk/history/$(date +\%%b-\%%d-\%%Y).log" 2>/dev/null # clamtk-scan"

from a terminal (yes, I should of thought of that a long time ago) and it runs fine. I'm going to try launching the script next (after clam completes the scan) and see if it errors out.

michaelk · 11-08-2022, 05:22 PM

Can you post the script?

tmick · 11-08-2022, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

Can you post the script?

Great question, let's see if it works.

Code:

/usr/bin/clamscan --exclude-dir=/home/tmick/.clamtk/viruses --exclude-dir=smb4k --exclude-dir=/run/user/tmick/gvfs --exclude-dir=/home/tmick/.gvfs --exclude-dir=.thunderbird --exclude-dir=.mozilla-thunderbird --exclude-dir=.evolution --exclude-dir=Mail --exclude-dir=kmail -i --detect-pua -r /home/tmick --log="$HOME/.clamtk/history/$(date +\%b-\%d-\%Y).log" 2>/dev/null # clamtk-scan

So it appears the script is just the command I just ran. However there are two other related files: cron-tmick-tmick-0.service and cron-tmick-tmick-0.timer.
From cron-tmick-tmick-0.service

Code:

[Unit]
Description=[Cron] "59 23 * * * /usr/bin/clamscan --exclude-dir=/home/tmick/.clamtk/viruses --exclude-dir=smb4k --exclude-dir=/run/user/tmick/gvfs --exclude-dir=/home/tmick/.gvfs --exclude-dir=.thunderbird --exclude-dir=.mozilla-thunderbird --exclude-dir=.evolution --exclude-dir=Mail --exclude-dir=kmail -i --detect-pua -r /home/tmick --log="$HOME/.clamtk/history/$(date +\%%b-\%%d-\%%Y).log" 2>/dev/null # clamtk-scan"
Documentation=man:systemd-crontab-generator(8)
SourcePath=/var/spool/cron/crontabs/tmick
OnFailure=cron-failure@%i.service
Requires=systemd-user-sessions.service
RequiresMountsFor=/home/tmick

[Service]
Type=oneshot
IgnoreSIGPIPE=false
KillMode=process
ExecStart=/bin/sh /run/systemd/generator/cron-tmick-tmick-0.sh
User=tmick

and from the .timer file

Code:

[Unit]
Description=[Timer] "59 23 * * * /usr/bin/clamscan --exclude-dir=/home/tmick/.clamtk/viruses --exclude-dir=smb4k --exclude-dir=/run/user/tmick/gvfs --exclude-dir=/home/tmick/.gvfs --exclude-dir=.thunderbird --exclude-dir=.mozilla-thunderbird --exclude-dir=.evolution --exclude-dir=Mail --exclude-dir=kmail -i --detect-pua -r /home/tmick --log="$HOME/.clamtk/history/$(date +\%%b-\%%d-\%%Y).log" 2>/dev/null # clamtk-scan"
Documentation=man:systemd-crontab-generator(8)
PartOf=cron.target
SourcePath=/var/spool/cron/crontabs/tmick

[Timer]
Unit=cron-tmick-tmick-0.service
OnCalendar=*-*-* 23:59:00

Don't know if that helps??

michaelk · 11-08-2022, 05:51 PM

Is this the script you are referring too.
/run/systemd/generator/cron-tmick-tmick-0.sh

And it is identical to the actual cron job?

tmick · 11-08-2022, 06:02 PM

Yes, I pasted the text from the cron-tmick-tmick-0.sh
The other two I posted was from the cron-tmick-tmick-0.service and cron-tmick-tmick-0.timer files in /run/systemd/generator/
I did notice a extra space in the path for

Code:

ExecStart=/bin/sh /run/systemd/generator/cron-tmick-tmick-0.sh

after 'sh' I'm unsure if it matters.

pan64 · 11-09-2022, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmick

Yes, I pasted the text from the cron-tmick-tmick-0.sh
The other two I posted was from the cron-tmick-tmick-0.service and cron-tmick-tmick-0.timer files in /run/systemd/generator/
I did notice a extra space in the path for

Code:

ExecStart=/bin/sh /run/systemd/generator/cron-tmick-tmick-0.sh

after 'sh' I'm unsure if it matters.

that space is required, /bin/sh is the shell interpreter to run your script, which is actually /run/systemd/generator/cron-tmick-tmick-0.sh
But I'm not really sure that path is valid, your script cannot be located inside /run (at least I think).

michaelk · 11-09-2022, 07:34 AM

I don't see anything obvious and if the scan seems to work I may not worry about it to much. You can always create a separate timer from cron to run your own script as an alternative.

Since bookworm is for testing I might check the bug tracking system to see if there are any for systemd-cron. You can also send in a bug report.

I assume that systemd-cron generator creates a new script at boot time in /run but

I might have to install bookworm in a VM to play with it.

tmick · 11-09-2022, 02:39 PM

Well the path is valid, I can follow it to the shell script in the /run directory.
I've looked for and filed a bug report for this, it just hasn't had much in the response department.
I'm not sure if it is working. If I go into /home/tmick/.clamtk/history the last file is dated Sept 30,2022.
/var/log/clamav and /var/log/apt-cron don't have any errors and Journald / dmesg doesn't show anything either.