Interestingly I have used the same cronjob on Mac7.6.1/T3/Web*1.32 for 2 years without a hitch. Also, that cronjob was setup using the config.taf, typing in the location of the tango file (which if my memory serves me I put a path in that referenced the a crontab file in my client's actual web folder), clicking create file, and then entering the appropriate settings for the cronjob and clicking the save button in both the crontab file and the config.taf main menu section. It then worked for 2 years without a hitch - apart from, if I remember rightly, me changing the time it occurred once and re-saving the file, but apart from that I never had to touch it (nor did I have to restart my web server nightly - in fact except for me messing around with the server it has been rock solid for more than 4 years).
The cron job worked fine until I had to set it up on another server with exactly the same software (it was a mirror of the other machine, only difference being the hardware). Since then I have only got it to work once and as I write I have to re-visit this problem and find a permanent solution. Interestingly, this time I created a text file and put it in the location and then referenced that text file in the config.taf. This didn't work - I have since tried adding a carriage return and this worked. Since then I used both BBEdit and config.taf to edit the file and it doesn't work again - I'm not sure which editing process I used last. The answer, almost certainly, is in the formatting of the actual crontab file. I think that whether it works or not is very definitely related to carriage returns, and how many lines are in the file, and whether a blank line is left a the end of the file. I have never, repeat never, experienced intermittent operation of the cronjob once it has been setup correctly and started working, but obviously there is a particular way it has to be formatted to work. I will figure this out and post the results back to the list on my findings. cheers Garth At 10:11 17/05/2002 -0600, you wrote: >We use cron jobs on OS 8.6 - 9.2.2 with T3.53 and W* 4.3 and 4.4 (we used >to use 3.0.2 too). They work most of the time. Occasionally, the jobs >don't run and there is a "[Cron] Failed" message in the tango log. I've >never been able to figure out why they fail sometimes, but when it >happens it affects all cron jobs. Once they start to fail, it seems they >will continue to fail until the machine is restarted. We restart our macs >each night anyway, so the problem usually goes away the next night. > >FWIW, 3.63 has been buggy for us. And if you use 3.62 on a volume larger >than 2GB, tango logging doesn't work. 3.53 seems to be fine. > >Also, check that the crontab file has proper line breaks and an extra one >at the end of the file. Do not use the taf that comes with tango to edit >the crontab file, it messes things up for Macs. If you use BBEdit and >save with Macintosh line breaks, it should work. > >- Jeff > > >>I tried valiantly to get Cron working on an iMac running MacOS 8.6, Web* >>4.4, and Tango 3.63, without success. When I tried the SAME cron file on >>Tango 2000 it worked fine. >> >>John >> >>On Thursday, May 16, 2002, at 08:40 PM, ServerSmiths Tango Development wrote: >> >>>I know I setup something a couple of years ago using the CRON function and I >>>"think" it worked okay. >>> >>>My question is >>> >>>is there anyone who can chime in that they are successfully using the CRON >>>function on Webstar 3.0.2/sys8.6/T3.6.3 (plugin) or any other similar combo? >>> >>>I'd rather not spend a day building something that would depend on the CRON >>>and then find out CRON is flaky. >>> >>>Thanks for any tips/info. >>> >>> >>>Michael Heth >>>Web Information Architect >>> >>> >>>__________________S E R V E R S M I T H S__________________ >>> >>> http://www.serversmiths.com/ >>> >>> Technology Infrastructure Provider >>> >>> I N T E R N E T P R E S E N C E S O L U T I O N S >>> >>> | EWordSmith | LightningSite | Enigma.Engine | >>> >>> ________M A R I N C O U N T Y C A L I F O R N I A________ >-- > >Jeff Bohmer >VisionLink, Inc. >_________________________________ >303.402.0170 >www.visionlink.org >_________________________________ >People. Tools. Change. Community. >________________________________________________________________________ >TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text/US ASCII email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with unsubscribe witango-talk in the message body ________________________________________________________________________ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text/US ASCII email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe witango-talk in the message body
