crontab executes for root but not for common user - cron

Cron isn't executing for my user (here k) at reboot.
I put on a test script to see if it executes as root with:
crontab -e
then put into crontab:
#reboot echo date >> ~/reboot-dates
which is working and creates the fine inside /root/. Now I did the same for user k:
crontab -e -u k
and added the above test script line both with ~/ and full path:
#reboot echo date >> /home/k/reboot-dates
#reboot echo date >> ~/reboot-dates
I also put k in /etc/cron.allow:
echo k >> /etc/cron.allow
but it isn't starting as user k. I see the cron task is running both as root and user k, when i do:
ps -ef|grep cron|grep -v grep
I tried to edit the users crontab both as root and as user k but it isn't working.
I tried as root with runuser -l k -c "command" which does not work, I also tried with sleep 10 && "runuser..." still no success... these commands are working outside of cron.

Ok here is what works in crontab root file:
#reboot /sbin/runuser -l k -c "date >> ~/reboot-dates"
If anyone got a better solution please notice me. Sadly only root can add cronjobs this way. You also might cat /var/mail/root to see syntax errors such as "runuser command not found" etc.
Also the output is not directed to the user but instead is printed into roots mail. So this solution is really bad.

Related

Root Crontab say command not found in bash script

Currently I am writing a little script which should add a cronjob to the root crontable. But it seems that my root crontable stopped working. When I try to run the crontab commands in my bash scrip, I get "command not found". Also it worked for some time and stopped working yesterday. Now when I enter "sudo crontab -l" I don't get "no crontab for root" anymore. I am not sure what I did wrong. Here is my code:
#!/bin/bash
sudo crontab -l > rootcron 2> /dev/null
sudo echo "test" >> rootcron
sudo crontab rootcron
sudo rm rootcron
You didn't specify when the command is to be run. Typically you would see something like:
*/5 * * * * touch /tmp/test-cron
So basically you probably have an invalid cron file. What are the contents of the file now?

Crontab not recognising command

I have a bash script which I want to run as a cron job.
It works fine except one command.
I redirected its stderr to get the error and found out that the error it shows was the command not recognized.
It is a root crontab.
Both the current user and root execute the command successfully when I type it in the terminal.
Even the script executes the command when I run it through the terminal.
Startup script :
#!/bin/bash
sudo macchanger -r enp2s0 > /dev/null
sudo /home/deadpool/.logkeys/logger.sh > /dev/null
logger.sh :
#!/bin/bash
dat="$(date)"
echo " " >> /home/deadpool/.logkeys/globallog.log
echo $dat >> /home/deadpool/.logkeys/globallog.log
echo " " >> /home/deadpool/.logkeys/globallog.log
cat /home/deadpool/.logkeys/logfile.log >> /home/deadpool/.logkeys/globallog.log
cat /dev/null > /home/deadpool/.logkeys/logfile.log
cat /dev/null > /home/deadpool/.logkeys/error.log
logkeys --start --output /home/deadpool/.logkeys/logfile.log 2> /home/deadpool/.logkeys/error.log
error.log
/home/deadpool/.logkeys/logger.sh: line 10: logkeys: command not found
Remember cron runs with a different environment then your user account or root does and might not include the path to logkeys in its PATH. You should try the absolute path for logkeys (find it with which logkeys from your user) in your script. Additionally I recommend looking at this answer on serverfault about running scripts like they are running from cron when you need to find out why it's working for you and not in a job.

Cron not executing the shell script + Linux [duplicate]

I have a script that checks if the PPTP VPN is running, and if not it reconnects the PPTP VPN. When I run the script manually it executes fine, but when I make a cron job, it's not running.
* * * * * /bin/bash /var/scripts/vpn-check.sh
Here is the script:
#!/bin/sh
/bin/ping -c3 192.168.17.27 > /tmp/pingreport
result=`grep "0 received" /tmp/pingreport`
truncresult="`echo "$result" | sed 's/^\(.................................\).*$$'`"
if [[ $truncresult == "3 packets transmitted, 0 received" ]]; then
/usr/sbin/pppd call home
fi
finally i found a solution ... instead of entering the cronjob with
crontab -e
i needed to edit the crontab file directly
nano /etc/crontab
adding e.g. something like
*/5 * * * * root /bin/bash /var/scripts/vpn-check.sh
and its fine now!
Thank you all for your help ... hope my solution will help other people as well.
After a long time getting errors, I just did this:
SHELL=/bin/bash
PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
* * * * * /bin/bash /home/joaovitordeon/Documentos/test.sh
Where test.sh contains:
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/python3 /home/joaovitordeon/Documentos/test.py;
In my case, the issue was that the script wasn't marked as executable. To make sure it is, run the following command:
chmod +x your_script.sh
If you're positive the script runs outside of cron, execute
printf "SHELL=$SHELL\nPATH=$PATH\n* * * * * /bin/bash /var/scripts/vpn-check.sh\n"
Do crontab -e for whichever crontab you're using and replace it with output of the above command. This should mirror most of your environment in case there is some missing path issue or something else. Also check logs for any errors it's getting.
Though it definitly looks like the script has an error or you messed something up when copying it here
sed: -e expression #1, char 44: unterminated `s' command
./bad.sh: 5: ./bad.sh: [[: not found
Simple alternate script
#!/bin/bash
if [[ $(ping -c3 192.168.17.27) == *"0 received"* ]]; then
/usr/sbin/pppd call home
fi
Your script can be corrected and simplified like this:
#!/bin/sh
log=/tmp/vpn-check.log
{ date; ping -c3 192.168.17.27; } > $log
if grep -q '0 received' $log; then
/usr/sbin/pppd call home >>$log 2>&1
fi
Through our discussion in comments we confirmed that the script itself works, but pppd doesn't, when running from cron. This is because something must be different in an interactive shell like your terminal window, and in cron. This kind of problem is very common by the way.
The first thing to do is try to remember what configuration is necessary for pppd. I don't use it so I don't know. Maybe you need to set some environment variables? In which case most probably you set something in a startup file, like .bashrc, which is usually not used in a non-interactive shell, and would explain why pppd doesn't work.
The second thing is to check the logs of pppd. If you cannot find the logs easily, look into its man page, and it's configuration files, and try to find the logs, or how to make it log. Based on the logs, you should be able to find what is missing when running in cron, and resolve your problem.
Was having a similar problem that was resolved when a sh was put before the command in crontab
This did not work :
#reboot ~myhome/mycommand >/tmp/logfile 2>&1
This did :
#reboot sh ~myhome/mycommand >/tmp/logfile 2>&1
my case:
crontab -e
then adding the line:
* * * * * ( cd /directory/of/script/ && /bin/sh /directory/of/script/scriptItself.sh )
in fact, if I added "root" as per the user, it thought "root" was a command, and it didn't work.
As a complement of other's answers, didn't you forget the username in your crontab script ?
Try this :
* * * * * root /bin/bash /var/scripts/vpn-check.sh
EDIT
Here is a patch of your code
#!/bin/sh
/bin/ping -c3 192.168.17.27 > /tmp/pingreport
result=`grep "0 received" /tmp/pingreport`
truncresult=`echo "$result" | /bin/sed 's/^\(.................................\).*$/\1/'`
if [[ $truncresult == "3 packets transmitted, 0 received" ]]; then
/usr/sbin/pppd call home
fi
In my case, it could be solved by using this:
* * * * * root ( cd /directory/of/script/ && /directory/of/script/scriptItself.sh )
I used some ./folder/-references in the script, which didn't work.
The problem statement is script is getting executed when run manually in the shell but when run through cron, it gives "java: command not found" error -
Please try below 2 options and it should fix the issue -
Ensure the script is executable .If it's not, execute below -
chmod a+x your_script_name.sh
The cron job doesn’t run with the same user with which you are executing the script manually - so it doesn't have access to the same $PATH variable as your user which means it can't locate the Java executable to execute the commands in the script. We should first fetch the value of PATH variable as below and then set it(export) in the script -
echo $PATH can be used to fetch the value of PATH variable.
and your script can be modified as below - Please see second line starting with export
#!/bin/sh
export PATH=<provide the value of echo $PATH>
/bin/ping -c3 192.168.17.27 > /tmp/pingreport
result=`grep "0 received" /tmp/pingreport`
truncresult="`echo "$result" | sed 's/^\(.................................\).*$$'`"
if [[ $truncresult == "3 packets transmitted, 0 received" ]]; then
/usr/sbin/pppd call home
fi
First of all, check if cron service is running. You know the first question of the IT helpdesk: "Is the PC plugged in?".
For me, this was happening because the cronjob was executing from /root directory but my shell script (a script to pull the latest code from GitHub and run the tests) were in a different directory. So, I had to edit my script to have a cd to my scripts folder. My debug steps were
Verified that my script run independent of cron job
Checked /var/log/cron to see if the cron jobs are running. Verified that the job is running at the intended time
Added an echo command to the script to log the start and end times to a file. Verified that those were getting logged but not the actual commands
Logged the result of pwd to the same file and saw that the commands were getting executed from /root
Tried adding a cd to my script directory as the first line in the script. When the cron job kicked off this time, the script got executed just like in step 1.
it was timezone in my case. I scheduled cron with my local time but server has different timezone and it does not run at all. so make sure your server has same time by date cmd
first run command env > env.tmp
then run cat env.tmp
copy PATH=.................. Full line and paste into crontab -e, line before your cronjobs.
try this
/home/your site folder name/public_html/gistfile1.sh
set cron path like above

Including Cron/Crontab in my Bash Backup Script with inputs

Im doing a Bash-Backup Script with 3 Options:
Do fullbackup
Do fullbackup at a specific time with cron
First I want to ask for the path like: Path of directory: /home
Then i want the hour for the backup: Hour for the backup (0:00-23:59) : 2:00
Then a simple question like: The backup will execute at 2:00. Do you agree(y/n)
I know how to do a crontab but I have no idea how to include that in my script so that I choose option 2 and then the script asks me for the directory and time and set then the crontab.
Any ideas or help would be appreciated!
You can get the existing crontab with
crontab -l
and install a new crontab with
crontab file
So your script would probably need something like
crontab -l | grep -v "# install-backup-script" > /tmp/file.$$
echo "$min $hour * * * /full/path/to/script # install-backup-script" >> /tmp/file.$$
crontab /tmp/file.$$
rm -f /tmp/file.$$

rdiff-backup bash script and cron trouble

I have this very simple bash script:
#!/opt/bin/bash
/opt/bin/rdiff-backup --force --print-statistics myhost::/var/bkp /volume1/backups/sql 2>&1 > /var/log/rdiff-backup.log;
/opt/bin/rdiff-backup --force --print-statistics myhost::/var/www/vhosts /volume1/backups/vhosts 2>&1 >> /var/log/rdiff-backup.log;
/opt/bin/rdiff-backup --force --print-statistics myhost::/etc /volume1/backups/etc 2>&1 >> /var/log/rdiff-backup.log;
/opt/bin/rdiff-backup --force --print-statistics /volume1/homes /volume1/backups/homes 2>&1 >> /var/log/rdiff-backup.log;
cat /var/log/rdiff-backup.log | /opt/bin/nail -s "rdiff-backup log" me#email.com;
if I run the script from the command line, in this way:
nohup /path/to/my/scipt.sh &
it works fine, appending each rdiff-backup statistic report to the rdiff-backup.log and sending this file to my email address, as expected. But if I put the script in the crontab, the script make only one rdiff-backup job sending statistics via email. I cannot understand because the script doesn't work in the same way...
Any idea?
this is my cronjob entry:
30 19 * * * /opt/bin/bash /volume1/backups/backup.sh
via crontab only the last job is executed correctly, I think because this is the only one local backup. When I execute the script from command line I use the root user, and the public key of the root user is in the /root/./ssh/authorized_keys of the remote machine. The owner of the crontab file is the root user too, I created them through "crontab -e" using the root account.
First of all you need to make sure the script used in cron doesn't output anything, otherwise:
cron will assume there is an error
you will not see the error if any
A solution for this is to use
30 19 * * * /opt/bin/bash /volume1/backups/backup.sh 2>&1 >> /var/log/rdiff-backup-cron.log;
Second of all, it appears you are losing env variables when executing via cron, try adding the env settings to your script
#!/opt/bin/bash
. /root/.profile
/opt/bin/rdiff-backup --force --print-statistics myhost::/var/bkp /volume1/backups/sql 2>&1 > /var/log/rdiff-backup.log
if /root/.profile doesn't, exist try adding . /root/.bashrc or /etc/profile
I hope this helps.

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