Re: [cobalt-users] [RaQ3i] cron entry problem

["H.P. Stroebel" <hpstr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Theodore Jones schrieb:

> Here is the mail message I continue to recieve on the hour:
> 
> Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 17:01:01 -0700
> From: Cron Daemon <root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Cron <root@www> /home/sites/site2/database/sentinel.pl
> 
> /bin/sh: /home/sites/site2/database/sentinel.pl: No such file or directory

pretty clear, isn`t it ? the file does not exist, or the path is wrong.
 
> I'm pretty sure the cronjob is installed as root also.  Here's what I
> get when doing a "crontab -l":

yes, it is, as it is in root`s crontab.
 
> # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall.
> # (/tmp/crontab.7142 installed on Wed Nov 29 16:45:44 2000)

strange, i don`t have this entry. i interpret it - see "man cron" for
this - that you should not edit the file directly with a text editor,
but open it for editing with crontab -e, like you did.

> I had allready tried a "crontab -e" as root, but the first line that it
> outputs in edit mode tended to stop me... :
> 
> # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall.
> # (something.crontab installed on Fri May 19 13:13:41 2000)

that`s normal, as it is simply a comment in the crontab, which is a
simple text file with some special behaviour (it does not behave special
in any sense, but it is treated in a special way by the crontab
command).

the only point that seems a bit strange is "edit the master"; i don`t
know how to understand this. maybe cobalt specific stuff, but i don`t
think so.

anyway, i edit my crontabs regularily in this way (all but /etc/crontab,
that i edit directly) without any problems (raq3i).

the first thing you should do now is to check the path to sentinel.pl
("whereis sentinel.pl" or "locate sentinel.pl"); you might add the
correct entry to /etc/crontab if you don`t want to bother around with
"crontab -e", which calls vi by default (exactly : the program specified
by your EDITOR environment variable, that you of course can change to
e.g. to pico (don`t forget the -w !!)).

btw: the mail is not bounced, it`s the way that cron tells the user
about errors (sort of STDOUT). that`s the only (simple and effective)
way, as the user might not be logged in when cron executes something for
him.

again, "man cron" is your friend. 

cu

-- 

H. P.  Stroebel, Germany

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