Problem with cron

2handband · 12-03-2010, 11:30 AM

I'm running a Slackware64 13.0 machine with the following line at the end of crontab -e:

Code:

@reboot rm -rf /tmp/*

Yet /tmp is not clearing. This exact same setup is working fine for me on two 13.1 boxes and a -current machine; what gives?

bgeddy · 12-03-2010, 12:49 PM

Is this command in the crontab of a user or root. If it's a user's crontab then there may be a problem as the command will be ran as that user and maybe failing. Don't know why the other machines are working OK though. Personally I'd always put such stuff in /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown anyway. I'd start by looking at permissions and ownership of stuff in /tmp/ and who owns the crontab on all machines.

2handband · 12-03-2010, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgeddy

Is this command in the crontab of a user or root. If it's a user's crontab then there may be a problem as the command will be ran as that user and maybe failing. Don't know why the other machines are working OK though. Personally I'd always put such stuff in /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown anyway. I'd start by looking at permissions and ownership of stuff in /tmp/ and who owns the crontab on all machines.

It's the root crontab.

bgeddy · 12-03-2010, 01:13 PM

Quote:

It's the root crontab.

Hmm - not that then. Just to let you know - I tried putting a command in my crontab like so:

Code:

@reboot date > ~/reboottime

I'm running Slackware64 13.1 and it definitely works on my machine.

brixtoncalling · 12-03-2010, 01:25 PM

Someone posted a similar question here once and if I recall correctly, there was no space between the rm and the -rf. So maybe check your syntax to make sure there's no typo?

T3slider · 12-03-2010, 01:25 PM

Make sure crond is running (`ps aux | grep [c]rond` should do the trick), make sure the command is listed properly in the output of `crontab -l`, try adding/removing a blank line at the end of the file, and try using the explicit path to /bin/rm. Also note that your command will not remove dot files in /tmp.