Re: Cronjobs

[Andrew Kelly <akelly@transparency.org>]

Stefan Wimmer wrote:
> 
> * Tom Troonbeeckx <tom.troonbeeckx@ideaxis.com> wrote on 30/Jul/2003 - 09:34:38 :
> > Dear Sir/Madam,
> >
> > I have some proplem with mine cronjobs.
> >
> > I edit mine /etc/crontab with the following command "crontab -e".
> > The crontab looks like this
> >
> > SHELL=/bin/bash
> > PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
> > MAILTO=root
> > HOME=/
> >
> > # run-parts
> > 01 * * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.hourly
> > 01 0 * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.daily
> > 30 14 * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.twice.a.day
> > 30 18 * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.twice.a.day
> > 22 4 * * 0 root run-parts /etc/cron.weekly
> > 42 4 1 * * root run-parts /etc/cron.monthly
> > 3,18,33,48 * * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.quarter-hourly
> > 1,6,11,16,21,26,31,36,41,46,51,56 * * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.5-min
> >
> > I restarted the anacron-daemon.  I tested the cronjobs individually and they
> > work fine.
> > However, since I scheduled them I receive an email after each 5 and 15
> > minutes with the message
> >       /bin/bash: root: command not found
> >
> > I figured out that the crondaemon is trying to execute the command root. At
> > some point it doesn't count the userprivilege of the cronjob.
> >
> > The configuration looks in mine opinion fine.  Any ideas what went wrong?
> >
> > Thanks in advance....
> 
> By using "crontab -e" you're editing your personal cron file (located in
> /var/spool/cron in RedHat) and there you don't need the user who is
> running the commands ... so leaving out "root" from your lines should help.
> 
> old: 3,18,33,48 * * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.quarter-hourly
> new: 3,18,33,48 * * * *      run-parts /etc/cron.quarter-hourly

Yes and no.

The differentiation here is user crontab vs. system crontab.

User crontabs only permit 6 fields
mim hour day month day-of-week do-this-part

Only the system crontab has a 7th field. The extra field
is at postion 6 and takes as an argument the username of
the user under which do-this-part is to run.

The following are equivalent:
  when logged in as user root,
  crontab -e
  3,18,33,48 * * * * run-parts /etc/cron.quarter-hourly

or edit the file /etc/crontab
  3,18,33,48 * * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.quarter-hourly

Andy