HI all

I have been at it for hours testing the bloody thing and still im out of luck.

Anyways I edit crontab using "crontab -e" command as a regular user. I put a simple line in there

50 3 * * * echo "crontab works!!"

When it hits that time the command does not execute. Nothing happens. I already created a /etc/cron.allow and put my username in there. I tried searching the web but all i get is same discussions on how to do crontab. I think im missing something. Btw when I do "crontab -l" I get this buggy thing:
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall.
# (/tmp/crontab.6243 installed on Sat Apr 17 03:49:51 2004)
# (Cron version -- $Id: crontab.c,v 2.13 1994/01/17 03:20:37 vixie Exp $)

So if anyone can shine some light on this matter i will be greatfull. Thanks

Are the cron service running?

Also is mail running? Or have you checked your mail? The output of process is mailed to the owner.

Suggest also that you do not use !!s in an echo as you might upset the default shell.
Try a df command instead of an echo.

Remember all crontab output is mailed to the user if it can.

In a shell window type mail to see your mail.

One other thing
DO NOT have any blank lines in crontab entries.
So with one command - do NOT finish with a C/R.

Ok so this is what my crontab file looks like and yet it still does not work:


# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall.
# (/tmp/crontab.7575 installed on Sun Apr 18 03:05:58 2004)
# (Cron version -- $Id: crontab.c,v 2.13 1994/01/17 03:20:37 vixie Exp $)
SHELL=/bin/bash
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
MAILTO=username
HOME=/home/username/

7 3 * * * /bin/df

I tried issuing mail command to see if i have any mail... i have no mail

crond service is running and its owned by root. Im out of ideas anything else i could be missing?

btw whats a C/R?

c/r is carriage return - what you get when you hit <return> or <enter>. Not sure how strict the requirement about c/r's is. The man page in fact says each line must end with a c/r and:

The best choice is to ensure that your crontab has a blank line at the end

Is that the exact output of 'crontab -l'? Your real user name should be in there. Not just 'username'.

Why not try with

7 3 * * * /bin/df > /home/username/test.junk

(change username of course...) so the command has a lasting side-effect.

I recall having similar frustration with cron when I first tried to use it, so don't give up!

C/R means carriage return. ( the return key )

Only use crontab -e to get the commands into cron.
It is important to not edit the cron files because cron only looks at them
on a reboot.
crontab -e as well as checking your typing also tells cron
about the new command.

If crontab -l shows the new command line then it should work.
( don't do the command too close to current time. cron might not see it in time)

Failing that then find the pid number of cron and try to strace the process
as root and wade through the output...
to find out what is going wrong at the time of cron running your command.

e.g.
su root
...........

pgrep cron
1984

strace -p 1984
...................
..................etc

ok looks like it worked i dont know why though lol. I think I rebooted the system still that is weird. Although when i did reboot the system i took a look into my crontab and it was empty why I dont know so i put in a fresh new line in there tested it with C/R and without and it worked both times. This is just unexplainable no idea what happened.

thanks for all help guys