Re: format of /etc/crontab?
At 8:31 PM -0500 7/3/03, Dan Nelson wrote: It already does, a couple paragraphs above the stuff you quoted: The format of a cron command is very much the V7 standard, with a number of upward-compatible extensions. Each line has five time and date fields, followed by a user name (with optional ``:'' and ``/'' suffixes) if this is the system crontab file, followed by a command. Thanks for pointing this out. I still think the information could do with being a bit less hidden... -r -- email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; phone: +1 650-873-7841 http://www.cfcl.com/rdm- my home page, resume, etc. http://www.cfcl.com/Meta - The FreeBSD Browser, Meta Project, etc. http://www.ptf.com/dossier - Prime Time Freeware's DOSSIER series ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
Re: format of /etc/crontab?
In the last episode (Jul 03), Rich Morin said: > None, in the file itself, but the crontab(5) man page should be tweaked. > I have posted the following suggestion (to [EMAIL PROTECTED]): > > The ``sixth'' field (the rest of the line) specifies the command to be ... > --- > In the case of /etc/crontab, another field (username) follows the time > and date fields. This is normally set to root, but other names can be > specified; the command will be setuid(2) to the corresponding uid. > > The ``final'' field (the rest of the line) specifies the command to be ... > > The user shouldn't be required to spot the added "who" field in the comment, > let alone read the source code to determine that no other format changes > have been made. The man pages promise to (and should) describe any format > differences. It already does, a couple paragraphs above the stuff you quoted: The format of a cron command is very much the V7 standard, with a number of upward-compatible extensions. Each line has five time and date fields, followed by a user name (with optional ``:'' and ``/'' suffixes) if this is the system crontab file, followed by a command. -- Dan Nelson [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
Re: format of /etc/crontab?
At 5:23 PM -0400 7/3/03, Paul Chvostek wrote: The /etc/crontab is largely self-documenting. It is similar to the format of the other crontab files, and includes a comment line: #minute hourmdaymonth wdaywho command What further information do you need? None, in the file itself, but the crontab(5) man page should be tweaked. I have posted the following suggestion (to [EMAIL PROTECTED]): The ``sixth'' field (the rest of the line) specifies the command to be ... --- In the case of /etc/crontab, another field (username) follows the time and date fields. This is normally set to root, but other names can be specified; the command will be setuid(2) to the corresponding uid. The ``final'' field (the rest of the line) specifies the command to be ... The user shouldn't be required to spot the added "who" field in the comment, let alone read the source code to determine that no other format changes have been made. The man pages promise to (and should) describe any format differences. -r -- email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; phone: +1 650-873-7841 http://www.cfcl.com/rdm- my home page, resume, etc. http://www.cfcl.com/Meta - The FreeBSD Browser, Meta Project, etc. http://www.ptf.com/dossier - Prime Time Freeware's DOSSIER series ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
Re: format of /etc/crontab?
On Thu, Jul 03, 2003 at 01:54:36PM -0700, Rich Morin wrote: > > The crontab(5) man page, however, says nothing about any differences in > the file formats. Instead, it appears to describe only the format that > is used in /var/cron/tabs/* files. > > I would like to know precisely how the format of /etc/crontab differs, > but I can't find any man page that addresses this. Help? The /etc/crontab is largely self-documenting. It is similar to the format of the other crontab files, and includes a comment line: #minute hourmdaymonth wdaywho command What further information do you need? -- Paul Chvostek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Operations / Abuse / Whatever it.canada, hosting and development http://www.it.ca/ ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
Re: format of /etc/crontab?
On Thu, Jul 03, 2003 at 01:54:36PM -0700, Rich Morin wrote: > The cron(8) man page (on my FreeBSD 4.7 system) says: > >Cron searches /var/cron/tabs for crontab files which are named after >accounts in /etc/passwd; crontabs found are loaded into memory. Cron >also searches for /etc/crontab which is in a different format (see >crontab(5)). > > The crontab(5) man page, however, says nothing about any differences in > the file formats. Instead, it appears to describe only the format that > is used in /var/cron/tabs/* files. > > I would like to know precisely how the format of /etc/crontab differs, > but I can't find any man page that addresses this. Help? Hmm, cron(8) mentions that /etc/crontab is in a difference format and refrences crontab(5), but you seems to be correct that crontab(5) doesn't mention the differences. I'm fairly sure the only difference is the who field between the time and command specifications. A bit of digging in the cron code found this comment: /* this function reads one crontab entry -- the next -- from a file. * it skips any leading blank lines, ignores comments, and returns * EOF if for any reason the entry can't be read and parsed. * * the entry is also parsed here. * * syntax: * user crontab: * minutes hours doms months dows cmd\n * system crontab (/etc/crontab): * minutes hours doms months dows USERNAME cmd\n */ -- Brooks -- Any statement of the form "X is the one, true Y" is FALSE. PGP fingerprint 655D 519C 26A7 82E7 2529 9BF0 5D8E 8BE9 F238 1AD4 pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: format of /etc/crontab?
On Thu, Jul 03, 2003 at 01:54:36PM -0700 or thereabouts, Rich Morin wrote: > The cron(8) man page (on my FreeBSD 4.7 system) says: > >Cron searches /var/cron/tabs for crontab files which are named after >accounts in /etc/passwd; crontabs found are loaded into memory. Cron >also searches for /etc/crontab which is in a different format (see >crontab(5)). > > The crontab(5) man page, however, says nothing about any differences in > the file formats. Instead, it appears to describe only the format that > is used in /var/cron/tabs/* files. > > I would like to know precisely how the format of /etc/crontab differs, > but I can't find any man page that addresses this. Help? Normal crontabs have the time fields, and then the command to run. /etc/crontab has an additional field after the time fields but before the command -- the user to run the command as (usually root). This is said in comments in /etc/crontab. -- Josh > > -r > -- > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; phone: +1 650-873-7841 > http://www.cfcl.com/rdm- my home page, resume, etc. > http://www.cfcl.com/Meta - The FreeBSD Browser, Meta Project, etc. > http://www.ptf.com/dossier - Prime Time Freeware's DOSSIER series > ___ > [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" ___ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
