[GRLUG] crontab not running a working script

[John-Thomas Richards]

On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 12:28:55PM -0500, Michael Mol wrote:
> Bob Kline wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 12:13 PM, John-Thomas Richards
> > <jtr at jrichards.org <mailto: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 <mailto:jtr at jrichards.org>> wrote:
> >     > > I sync my box to memotoo.com <http://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.
> > 
> > Can you direct any error messages when
> > the command is run to yourself?
> 
> By default, cron emails the output of commands to the user the command
> was run as, or root if it's a system cron job.
> 
> So, the output of the command should be in his inbox.

The output of the command is as I mentioned: could not read password.
-- 
john-thomas
------
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions,
that I wish it always to be kept alive.
Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826)

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