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Re: Cron runs, but commands are not executing.


On Wed, 26 Nov 2003, Thompson, Blake wrote:

> Folks,
> I have tried to tackle this by myself and with the help of all the others
> that have been trying to resolve similar issues via this newsgroup.  I have
> come across several instances where people were finally able to claim
> victory and tried their options, but to no avail (although, I've come
> further in my travels than I was before).
>
> Platform:       Windows XP Pro
> Cygwin is installed as 'all users.'
>
> The server has been started/stopped/started and uninstalled/reinstalled a
> ton of times.  I am able to verify that cron is running as a service via the
> event log and when attempting to start it I get the message that it is
> already running.  I have reinstalled cron a few times, as well.
>
> My crontab is as follows:
>
>
> A325771@DA604290 /var/cron
> $ crontab -l
> # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall.
> # (/tmp/crontab.3308 installed on Wed Nov 26 13:51:07 2003)
> # (Cron version -- $Id: crontab.c,v 1.7 2003/04/15 15:13:41 corinna Exp $)
> * * * * * date >> ~/date.txt

Try using "/bin/date >> /tmp/date.txt" instead.  Tilde-expansion may not
be available, and PATH may not be set correctly.

> (I have also tried executing a shell script versus a single command).
>
> I've run cron_diagnose.sh with no issues (output below)
> [snip]
> (By the way, I did all the stuff mentioned in the script output.  Multiple
> times.)
>
> I am not able to see where any output has been generated.  However, when
> reviewing the event log, I come across the following entries (they appear to
> be grouped in 2's):
>
> Event Type:     Information
> Event Source:   /USR/SBIN/CRON
> Event Category: None
> Event ID:       0
> Date:           11/26/2003
> Time:           2:14:00 PM
> User:           NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
> Computer:       DA604290
> Description:
> The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( /USR/SBIN/CRON ) cannot be
> found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or
> message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be
> able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and
> Support for details. The following information is part of the event:
> /USR/SBIN/CRON : PID 948 : (A325771) CMD (date >> ~/date.txt).
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This last line is the only important part.  It says that cron attempted to
execute the command.

> Event Type:     Information
> Event Source:   /USR/SBIN/CRON
> Event Category: None
> Event ID:       0
> Date:           11/26/2003
> Time:           2:14:06 PM
> User:           NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
> Computer:       DA604290
> Description:
> The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( /USR/SBIN/CRON ) cannot be
> found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or
> message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be
> able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and
> Support for details. The following information is part of the event:
> /USR/SBIN/CRON : PID 608 : (A325771) MAIL (mailed 48 bytes of output but got status 0x0001).
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This shows that there was some output generated by the command you tried
to execute (most likely on stderr).  Since you didn't redirect stderr in
your command, cron attempted to mail it to you, and since you're not
running a mail server, that attempt failed.

> I know that this is probably a doink problem that has a quickie solution,
> but I have read all the README's, man pages, and 2 years worth of cygwin
> posts, but am not able to find what could be causing the issue.  Please,
> show me the error of my ways.
>
> Blake

Try redirecting stderr from your cron command as well.  Most likely cron
couldn't find "date" (incorrect PATH setting), or couldn't access
"~/date.txt" (no tilde expansion).
	Igor
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