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Re: Confused about several issues with setting up cron


On 09/24/2013 05:04 PM, KARR, DAVID wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: KARR, DAVID
Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2013 2:32 PM
Subject: RE: Confused about several issues with setting up cron

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2013 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: Confused about several issues with setting up cron

On 09/22/2013 05:56 PM, bartels wrote:
On 09/22/2013 03:00 AM, KARR, DAVID wrote:
CYGWIN_NT-6.1 1.7.25(0.270/5/3) 2013-08-31 20:39 i686 Cygwin

I want to set up a cron job, so I have to get cron configured. I'm
trying
to follow the instructions I can find, but I'm seeing several issues.
I'm surprised that there's nothing in the user guide or the FAQ about
setting up cron.  I had to settle for the various questions about this
on StackOverflow and others.
  >>> I want to set up a cron job, so I have to get cron configured.  I'm
trying
  >> to follow the instructions I can find, but I'm seeing several issues.
  >>> I'm surprised that there's nothing in the user guide or the FAQ about
  >> setting up cron.  I had to settle for the various questions about this
on
  >> StackOverflow and others.
  >>
  >> Must say your reporting of events is also lacking crucial elements
  >> If you re-install and give me more details, then I will try and answer
your
  >> questions.
  > Ok.  I assume you mean re-installing cron, not Cygwin.
Yes, cron-config is what I meant.
  >
  > I followed the process described in the FAQ for removing a service.  I
then ran cron-config again.  When I did this before, I selected to run
cron as myself.  I decided to make it run as the local system account this
time (first running "passwd -R" and entering my password).  It
appeared to complete without errors or warnings.  I did this in a "run as
administrator" window.
  >
  > In a normal window, I then ran "crontab -e".  I figured this would put
me
into "vi" with an empty buffer.  It just returned to the prompt.
You should see a vi session.
Do you have vi installed?
What is the value of EDITOR?
Yes, I have vi installed.  EDITOR was blank, but I tried setting it to "vi"
and repeating the test, with no change.

This could indicate a deeper problem, confusing not just cron.

  > I then ran "crontab crontab" (the "crontab" file in my current directory
is the file with the one job I want to run), and then did "crontab
-l".  Nothing.

Are you familiar with the crontab format? If not, try this:
$ man 5 crontab
Yes, I am familiar with it, but here's the crontab I'm trying to set, in any
case:

0 * * * *	monitorDataSource

  >
  > I then went back to the administrator window.  I ran "cronevents".  This
didn't show anything more than the cron service being started.  I
then ran "cronbug".  I'm attaching the gzipped copy of this.
  >
You will have more luck running cron 'as yourself': it is straightforward.
Running it as a privileged user is more complicated.

Is there a specific reason why you want to run it as system?
No, only because running it as myself didn't work.

In any case, I tried stopping and removing the service and rerunning cron-
config, running the service as myself.  It didn't make any difference.  No
response from "crontab -e", and "crontab crontab" seemingly ignored.  Nothing
in "/var/log/cron.log", and nothing in "cronevents" except for the service
stopping and starting.
Any more ideas about this?


I guess it is to do with privileges.
cron works on my machines without fail: as system, and as privileged user

If you look at the service
$ cygrunsrv.exe  -Q cron --verbose

You can see that you can run cron from your own account like this:
$  /usr/sbin/cron -n

Anyway, the cron process needs read/write access to
/var/cron/tabs/<your account>

No cron file there, means no cron jobs for you.

The fact that you do not get an editor with 'crontab -e' is strange.
I can only guess that EDITOR has a strange value, or crontab dies on privileges.

Have you tried strace?
$ strace -f crontab -e 2>&1 | tee strace.log

You can probably see it dying.

- bartels



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