cron doesn't run the rule
 

Hello. I have a mailsystem server based on Ubuntu 14.04. I have created rules in crontab to delete some mails automatically:

root@mail:~# cat /etc/crontab
# /etc/crontab: system-wide crontab
# Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the `crontab'
# command to install the new version when you edit this file
# and files in /etc/cron.d. These files also have username fields,
# that none of the other crontabs do.

SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

# m h dom mon dow user command
17 * * * * root cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly
25 6 * * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily )
47 6 * * 7 root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly )
52 6 1 * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.monthly )
00 23 * * * root /bin/rm /var/vmail_user/some_user/Maildir/.INBOX.some1/cur/*
00 23 * * * root /usr/bin/find /var/vmail_user/some_user/Maildir/.INBOX.some2/cur -type f -mtime +4 -delete

Rule for find command is working, but for rm command is not. I tried to change "/bin/rm" to "rm" and to "rm -rf", but it's not working. I tried to make file:

root@mail:~# cat /etc/cron.daily/rm
#!/bin/bash

rm -rf /var/vmail/info/Maildir/.INBOX.autotests/cur/

wait

exit 0

It's not working too. If I run this commands (rm and /bin/rm or bash /etc/cron.daily/rm) from console, they are working fine. Permissions:

root@mail:~# ls -la /etc/ | grep crontab
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1002 Jan 20 12:29 crontab

root@mail:~# ls -la /etc/cron.daily/ | grep rm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 78 Jan 20 12:26 rm

Permissions to .INBOX.some1 and to .INBOX.some2 are the same.
"service cron restart" isn't helping.

Can You help me and say, what I'm doing wrong?

I would try to write a shell script and execute it from cron and you can check anything you want in that script and also write a logfile (also use set -xv)

I've tried to write a shell script:
Is you mean that or not?

If I run this script from console, it's working fine.

no, I mean to modify it, like:
and you can check the content of that /tmp/mylogfile

Thank you, I shall try it.

in your script for any commands you are using that aren't shell built-in then use the full path to the command.

For example:

instead of

If something runs from the command line, but not from cron, FIRST, check the environment. SECOND check the environment again. And FINALLY, re-check the environment.

We are talking about ownership, permissions, paths, and environment variables here.

I tried this. I wrote about it in the first post of this topic. But thanks.

I can't understand what may be wrong...

pan64, I tried to run this script via cron. Script worked, there is output in /tmp/mylogfile, but nothing to remove in catalog in rm command :(

so script works, crontab works, just the directory was empty?

No.

But what? We cannot go further with a simple no....

I can't understand why. Maybe it connected with some permissions, but I don't know where.

so that is where you can add some check/test to the script. For example:
id - to print the identity of the actual user
ls - to show the content of some dir and permissions
type - to check if a command is available
and other things you can find useful.

Ok, thank you.

Problem solved by reinstalling cron. Thanks.