Cron job not executing
5,172
I hate to ask the obvious, but is /etc/mycron/myscript.sh
executable? You can check with:
ls -l /etc/mycron/myscript.sh
Should generally see 3 x's. If not, try:
chmod -V +x /etc/mycron/myscript.sh
You can also use sh or bash to run the script, using this line in the cron instead:
sh /etc/mycron/myscript.sh
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Author by
Eric Wilson
Updated on September 18, 2022Comments
-
Eric Wilson over 1 year
I'm trying to use
cron
for the first time, and I'm stuck.I'm using Ubuntu 10.10, and the following is my
/etc/crontab
file. The only modification that I've made is appending the last line.I've verified that
cron
is running, and the other jobs here run, but the last one does not.# /etc/crontab: system-wide crontab # Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the `crontab' # command to install the new version when you edit this file # and files in /etc/cron.d. These files also have username fields, # that none of the other crontabs do. SHELL=/bin/sh PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin # m h dom mon dow user command 17 * * * * root cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly 25 6 * * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily ) 47 6 * * 7 root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly ) 52 6 1 * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.monthly ) # 21 22 * * * root /etc/mycron/myscript.sh > /home/me/stuff/log/cron.log
I've checked
$ sudo grep CRON /var/log/syslog
and found evidence of the hourly jobs, but nothing for the new job.I've looked for
cron.allow
andcron.deny
files, but they don't seem to exist on my machine. -
Eric Wilson over 12 yearsIt is executable, thanks for asking. (Really) I'm curious what difference adding
sh
makes. (I'm trying it, I just don't have any idea what it could mean if it works.) -
Eric Wilson over 12 yearsOK, adding
sh
made it work. What wascron
trying to do when it wasn't there? I'd really appreciate some insight here, otherwise I'll superstitiously addsh
to cron jobs indefinitely. -
Eric Wilson over 12 years@Giles But my script was executable. I had executed it from the command line, and confirmed that all three
x
s were there. -
laebshade over 12 yearsHow about the shebang? Does the first line say:
#!/bin/sh
or#!/bin/bash
-- this may be your problem.