[GRLUG] crontab not running a working script

[John-Thomas Richards]

On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 12:26:45PM -0500, Bob Kline wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 12:13 PM, John-Thomas Richards <jtr at jrichards.org>wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 12:04:17PM -0500, Ben Rousch wrote:
> > > On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 11:47 AM, John-Thomas Richards
> > > <jtr at jrichards.org> wrote:
> > > > I sync my box to memotoo.com's service.  Works from the commandline
> > with
> > > > `syncevolution memotoo'.  The password is in the config files so when I
> > > > enter the above command, it syncs, then I'm back to a command prompt.
> >  I
> > > > can take that command and put it in a simple bash script:
> > > >
> > > >        #!/bin/bash
> > > >        syncevolution memotoo
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > It works as expected; no further input is needed.  However, when I put
> > > > that script into my crontab, I get this error message:
> > > >
> > > >        Enter password for memotoo: [ERROR] error code from
> > > >        SyncEvolution fatal error (local, status 10500): could not read
> > > >        password for memotoo
> > > >
> > > >        Synchronization failed, see
> > > >
> >  /home/jtr/.cache/syncevolution/memotoo-2012-01-12-11-38/syncevolution-log.html
> > > >        for details.
> > > >
> > > > The error log simply repeats that it could not read the password.
> > > >
> > > > My scripting skills are limited; am I missing something?  If it works
> > > > from a commandline should it not also work from cron?
> > >
> > > Cron uses different paths than a normal user. To avoid problems with
> > > this you should specify the full path to all executables and files in
> > > a cron job. You'll likely have to tell the program exactly where the
> > > config file is located.
> >
> > Is this true even when the command in cron is a bash script?  The line
> > in crontab is:
> >
> > 1 23 * * * /home/jtr/bin/syncmemotoo
> >
> > It runs every night at 11:00PM.
> 
> 
> But does your script need your environment?  The absolute path gets
> your script, but under what environment does cron run it?
> 
> The crontab(1) points out that a user can have their own crontab file,
> but seems a little vague about whether that implies anything about the
> user's own environment.

Very good question.  I do not know the environment it runs under.  I
assume it's the user's environment since it's the user's crontab.

> Can you direct any error messages when the command is run to yourself?

Yes, as Mike said; it's in my local inbox.
-- 
john-thomas
------
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a
thousandfold.
Aristotle, philosopher (384-322 B.C.)

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