[SOLVED] Script in /etc/cron.daily not running

littlebigman · 06-19-2015, 07:07 AM

Hello

This is the first time I'm using a script through Cron so that it runs daily. FWIW, the host is runnin Debian 7.

I simply put a script in /etc/cron.daily yesterday, but it doesn't seem to run.

Is there an additional step? How do I investigate why it's not running?

Thank you.

TenTenths · 06-19-2015, 09:37 AM

Check that the script has the correct execution permissions.
Check that any non-shell commands that the script runs are being accessed using /the/full/path/to/the/command
If you're using bash then use set -x as the second line of the script and that will give you some logging.

littlebigman · 06-19-2015, 07:24 PM

Thanks for the help.

I put "set -x" on the second line, right after "#!/bin/bash", and will check /var/log/messages tomorrow.

The script relies on wget, grep, and sed.

Do I need to specify where those live in the system?

Thank you.

littlebigman · 06-20-2015, 12:02 PM

Nothing interesting in /var/log/messages:

Code:

rsyslogd: [origin software="rsyslogd" swVersion="5.8.                                      11" x-pid="1553" x-info="http://www.rsyslog.com"] rsyslogd was HUPed

I assume this is due to adding "set -x" in my Bash script. But otherwise, still no cigar.

Next, I followed this post, and added the following to my script:

Code:

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

As a test, I moved my script from /etc/cron.daily to /etc/cron.hourly, and checked after a couple of hours: Still no output, and nothing in /var/log/messages.

Mmm

littlebigman · 06-20-2015, 05:40 PM

Looks like simply putting a script in /etc/cron.hourly isn't enough:

Code:

/etc/cron.hourly# ll
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root  152 Jun 20 23:26 test.bash*

/etc/cron.hourly# cat test.bash
#!/bin/bash

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

echo "This line from test.bash" > /tmp/from.test.script

/etc/cron.hourly# cat /etc/crontab
# m h dom mon dow user  command
17 *    * * *   root    cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly

I waited until the next :17, but nothing turned in /tmp.

littlebigman · 06-20-2015, 06:24 PM

Next, I ran "/etc/init.d/cron restart", and waited until :17. Still no trace of the output in /tmp.

FWIW,

Code:

/etc/cron.hourly# ps aux | grep cron
root      4152  0.0  0.1   3800   780 ?        Ss   00:47   0:00 /usr/sbin/cron
root      4189  0.0  0.1   3552   816 pts/0    S+   01:23   0:00 grep cron

I didn't expect this to be so involved.

littlebigman · 06-21-2015, 06:40 AM

Problem solved.

Look in the Debian sub-forum for more infos.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/