Linux - Software This forum is for Software issues.
Having a problem installing a new program? Want to know which application is best for the job? Post your question in this forum. |
Notices |
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
Are you new to LinuxQuestions.org? Visit the following links:
Site Howto |
Site FAQ |
Sitemap |
Register Now
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
|
 |
|
08-10-2004, 01:05 PM
|
#1
|
Member
Registered: Oct 2003
Location: Mississauga, ON
Distribution: Ubuntu 9.04
Posts: 496
Rep:
|
cron job not running
Hi everyone,
I want my computer to shut itself down at 1am everyday. So what I did was type "su -c 'crontab -e'" and added in the line:
Then I restarted crond by typing "/etc/init.d/crond restart". To test it, I reset my clock to 12:55am and rebooted. But when the hour rolled over, nothing happened.
I tried different things like adding quotation marks to "init 0", putting the full path ("/sbin/init 0"), and using an alternative command ("shutdown -h now"), but to no avail.
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks,
Vince
|
|
|
08-10-2004, 01:45 PM
|
#2
|
Moderator
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Scotland
Distribution: Slackware, RedHat, Debian
Posts: 12,047
Rep:
|
Try creating a log file to test:
0 1 * * * init 0 2>&1 > /tmp/shutdown.log
Do you get anything in the log when it is supposed to run?
|
|
|
08-13-2004, 04:54 PM
|
#3
|
Member
Registered: Oct 2003
Location: Mississauga, ON
Distribution: Ubuntu 9.04
Posts: 496
Original Poster
Rep:
|
No, apparently it doesn't even run because when I type "cat /tmp/shutdown.log", the file hasn't even been created.
|
|
|
08-13-2004, 05:17 PM
|
#4
|
Moderator
Registered: Aug 2002
Posts: 26,535
|
Have you tried
/sbin/halt
or
/sbin/poweroff
Instead of init 0
|
|
|
08-14-2004, 07:29 AM
|
#5
|
Moderator
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Scotland
Distribution: Slackware, RedHat, Debian
Posts: 12,047
Rep:
|
If that doesn't work it would be interesting to see if your cron jobs are even being run - try this one for example:
0 1 * * * date 2>&1 > /tmp/cron-test.log
Do you see the correct date and time in the log file? ie - 1:30
|
|
|
08-14-2004, 12:12 PM
|
#6
|
Member
Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Littleton, CO
Distribution: Gentoo64 2004.3
Posts: 59
Rep:
|
You might try creating an empty log file first. Sometomes it will not create the file for you. Try this and see if it works.
Code:
touch /tmp/cron-test.log > /dev/null
|
|
|
08-23-2004, 11:32 PM
|
#7
|
Member
Registered: Oct 2003
Location: Mississauga, ON
Distribution: Ubuntu 9.04
Posts: 496
Original Poster
Rep:
|
So I added the line "29 23 * * * date 2>&1 > /tmp/shutdown.log" to my crontab file, restarted crond, and made sure that I typed "touch shutdown.log" before 23:29. But yet nothing shows up in /tmp/shutdown.log.
Any more ideas?
Thanks,
Vince
P.S. Hurray, my 400th post!
Last edited by vincebs; 08-23-2004 at 11:34 PM.
|
|
|
08-24-2004, 09:24 AM
|
#8
|
Moderator
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Scotland
Distribution: Slackware, RedHat, Debian
Posts: 12,047
Rep:
|
What procedure did you use to add it to your crontab file?
|
|
|
08-24-2004, 02:48 PM
|
#9
|
Member
Registered: Oct 2003
Location: Mississauga, ON
Distribution: Ubuntu 9.04
Posts: 496
Original Poster
Rep:
|
su
crontab -e
<edit>
crontab -l (to verify)
/etc/init.d/crond restart
|
|
|
09-01-2004, 01:23 PM
|
#10
|
Member
Registered: Oct 2003
Location: Mississauga, ON
Distribution: Ubuntu 9.04
Posts: 496
Original Poster
Rep:
|
bump
|
|
|
09-01-2004, 01:35 PM
|
#11
|
Member
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: India
Distribution: Redhat Enterprise Server 2.1
Posts: 96
Rep:
|
Hey just a simple test to verify whether your crond is runninig
do
<code>#su -
#touch /root/cron_test
#crontab -e
and add the following job :
0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55 * * * * date >> /root/cron_test</code>
After saving the file just verify crontab -l and also there is no need restart crond it will rebuilt its files again.
This is only a test script and will put the output of date command in /root/cron_test after 5 mins every hour.
Remember to remove it once you have tested it.
.... Nitin Batta ....
http://nitinb.blogspot.com
__________________
If this helped you, please take the time to rate the value of this post by clicking the affero button
|
|
|
09-03-2004, 02:18 AM
|
#12
|
LQ Newbie
Registered: Mar 2003
Distribution: Modded-Knoppix
Posts: 23
Rep:
|
Not sure if this is it, but make sure that the init file is in the path that cron is using to run. It does not run with the full path that your user account runs as. It also runs as the user for which the cron job was created - you will likely have to be root to run this cron job as it is written.
Put the full path to init - probably /sbin/init or /usr/sbin/init - It is common that the path that cron uses is very minimal unless you specify path as a variable in cron:
PATH = /usr/sbin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin.....etc...
|
|
|
09-06-2004, 01:49 PM
|
#13
|
Member
Registered: Oct 2003
Location: Mississauga, ON
Distribution: Ubuntu 9.04
Posts: 496
Original Poster
Rep:
|
Quote:
Originally posted by nitin_batta
Hey just a simple test to verify whether your crond is runninig
do
<code>#su -
#touch /root/cron_test
#crontab -e
and add the following job :
0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55 * * * * date >> /root/cron_test</code>
After saving the file just verify crontab -l and also there is no need restart crond it will rebuilt its files again.
This is only a test script and will put the output of date command in /root/cron_test after 5 mins every hour.
|
Looks like cron works here. But I can't figure out why it won't load "init 0"
Quote:
Originally posted by sjspig
Put the full path to init - probably /sbin/init or /usr/sbin/init - It is common that the path that cron uses is very minimal unless you specify path as a variable in cron
|
Answer:
Quote:
Originally posted by vincebs
I tried different things like adding quotation marks to "init 0", putting the full path ("/sbin/init 0"), and using an alternative command ("shutdown -h now"), but to no avail.
|
So I have to be root in order for the cron job to run? I don't feel comfortable leaving my Internet-connected computer running as root all the time...
There's no other way to schedule a shutdown?
|
|
|
09-06-2004, 02:07 PM
|
#14
|
Member
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: India
Distribution: Redhat Enterprise Server 2.1
Posts: 96
Rep:
|
Shutdown has execute permissions generally for only for the root.
Quote:
So I have to be root in order for the cron job to run? I don't feel comfortable leaving my Internet-connected computer running as root all the time...
|
So you will set the shutdown as a cronjob for root.
When you set a cronjob as any user you need not be logged in as that user for the job to run .... so its to set shutdown as a cronjob for root.
#which shutdown
/usr/bin/shutdown (Dummy O/p)
so u'r crontab would be
#crontab -e
0 1 * * * /usr/bin/shutdown -h now
|
|
|
09-07-2004, 05:43 PM
|
#15
|
Member
Registered: Oct 2003
Location: Mississauga, ON
Distribution: Ubuntu 9.04
Posts: 496
Original Poster
Rep:
|
That's what I did originally but it didn't work.
I made sure that I su'ed before typing crontab -e. But nothing seems to happen unless I'm logged in as root.
|
|
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:22 PM.
|
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
|
Latest Threads
LQ News
|
|