This is a new install December 2018 update on Raspberry Pi Model2. I had install cron using
apt-get but after reading other posts, removed the apt version and install from the OSMC shop on kodi.
I have looked at this post:
but not solved my issue. Cron used to work on my old built (before I the SD card was corrupted and I used mpc as an alarm clock.
I am testing using this line:
20 49 * * 1-5 df -hT > /home/osmc/diskstats
Which works from the terminal and creates a file in ~ .
Cron service is running:
osmc@osmc:~$ sudo service cron status
● cron.service - Regular background program processing daemon
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/cron.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Thu 2019-01-24 20:45:48 GMT; 11h ago
Docs: man:cron(8)
Main PID: 6291 (cron)
CGroup: /system.slice/cron.service
└─6291 /usr/sbin/cron -f
Jan 25 04:17:01 osmc CRON[8737]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Jan 25 05:17:01 osmc CRON[9002]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jan 25 05:17:01 osmc CRON[9003]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Jan 25 06:17:01 osmc CRON[9271]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jan 25 06:17:01 osmc CRON[9272]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Jan 25 06:25:01 osmc CRON[9325]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jan 25 06:25:01 osmc CRON[9326]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily ))
Jan 25 07:17:01 osmc CRON[9674]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jan 25 07:17:01 osmc CRON[9675]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Jan 25 07:17:01 osmc CRON[9674]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
I dont see entries for user osmc.
Should osmc be a member of group crontab?
Below is permissions for crontabs:
osmc@osmc:/var/spool/cron$ ls -l
total 4.0K
drwx-wx–T 2 root crontab 4.0K Jan 24 20:48 crontabs
I edited my crontab to see if I can get mpc to play:
13 39 * * 1-5 /usr/bin/mpc play 1
What I see in journalctl is:
journalctl_COMM=cron
Jan 25 08:18:01 osmc cron[6291]: (osmc) RELOAD (crontabs/osmc)
Jan 25 08:19:01 osmc cron[6291]: (osmc) RELOAD (crontabs/osmc)
Jan 25 09:17:01 osmc CRON[10776]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jan 25 09:17:01 osmc CRON[10777]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Jan 25 09:17:01 osmc CRON[10776]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
Jan 25 10:17:01 osmc CRON[11090]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jan 25 10:17:01 osmc CRON[11091]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Jan 25 10:17:01 osmc CRON[11090]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
Jan 25 11:17:01 osmc CRON[11395]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jan 25 11:17:01 osmc CRON[11396]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Jan 25 11:17:01 osmc CRON[11395]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
Jan 25 12:17:01 osmc CRON[11708]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jan 25 12:17:01 osmc CRON[11709]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Jan 25 12:17:01 osmc CRON[11708]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
Jan 25 13:17:01 osmc CRON[11985]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jan 25 13:17:01 osmc CRON[11986]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Jan 25 13:17:01 osmc CRON[11985]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
Jan 25 13:35:01 osmc cron[6291]: (osmc) RELOAD (crontabs/osmc)
Jan 25 13:38:01 osmc cron[6291]: (osmc) RELOAD (crontabs/osmc)
The crontab is reloaded for osmc but no commands are executed.
As root user cron hourly and daily are working.
With cron you really need to use the fully qualified name for the command, since the path might not be what you expect. In this case it is /bin/df. It is also good practice to send stderr (error) messages somewhere, eg to the diskstats file.
I made a bash script as Tom suggested. In crontab -l
20 58 * * 1-5 /home/osmc/mpd.sh
mpd.sh is executble with 755 contents:
osmc@osmc:~$ cat mpd.sh
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/mpc play 1
Shell script executes from home with ./mpd.sh
When I look at journalctl I see:
Jan 25 19:17:01 osmc CRON[14005]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jan 25 19:17:01 osmc CRON[14006]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Jan 25 19:17:02 osmc CRON[14005]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
Jan 25 20:17:01 osmc CRON[14330]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jan 25 20:17:01 osmc CRON[14331]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Jan 25 20:17:01 osmc CRON[14330]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
Jan 25 20:52:01 osmc cron[6291]: (osmc) RELOAD (crontabs/osmc)
Jan 25 20:58:01 osmc cron[6291]: (osmc) RELOAD (crontabs/osmc)
At the appropriate time the crontab is reloaded but no CMD is shown, it makes me think
I have a permission problem
These are my permissions for /var/spool/cron/crontabs
root@osmc:/var/spool/cron/crontabs# ls -l
total 4
-rw------- 1 osmc crontab 1122 Jan 25 20:57 osmc
root@osmc:/var/spool/cron# ls -l
total 4
drwx-wx--T 2 root crontab 4096 Jan 25 21:18 crontabs
My apologies to the forum my crontab time is wrong format !!
Should be Minutes Hours
And I had Hours Minutes !!!
Marking as [SOLVED}
just another PEBCAK
Edit:
It also looks like you can run commands if they are in the same User environment.
env (for user osmc shows that /usr/bin is included in PATH
So I tried these lines:
m h dom mon dow command
35 21 * * 1-5 mpc play 1
36 21 * * 1-5 mpc stop
And they work,
Thanks for all tthe help marked as [solved] to stop people reading
