[Bug 1110147] [NEW] Error in manual

[Abel Lopez]

Public bug reported:

The manual for crontab(5) shows various examples of using the date command as such:
$(date +%u)

This contradicts the note specifying that any % sign needs to be escaped

Entering something like that as a command for execution fails to
interpret anything past the % sign.

so, for example:
* * * * * echo $(date +%Y)
fails with
/bin/sh: 1: Syntax error: end of file unexpected (expecting ")")

The syslog shows this
 CRON[10104]: (root) CMD (echo $(date +)

Simply escaping the % resolves it, so in this example, the manual should
be updated so that each 'date' example looks as

$(date +\%u) - or whatever the format character example is.
My example cron from above executes as expected as
* * * * * echo $(date +\%Y)

which send me an email simply with "2013"

** Affects: cron (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Patch added: "cron-man.patch"
   https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1110147/+attachment/3507174/+files/cron-man.patch

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1110147

Title:
  Error in manual

Status in “cron” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  The manual for crontab(5) shows various examples of using the date command as such:
  $(date +%u)

  This contradicts the note specifying that any % sign needs to be
  escaped

  Entering something like that as a command for execution fails to
  interpret anything past the % sign.

  so, for example:
  * * * * * echo $(date +%Y)
  fails with
  /bin/sh: 1: Syntax error: end of file unexpected (expecting ")")

  The syslog shows this
   CRON[10104]: (root) CMD (echo $(date +)

  Simply escaping the % resolves it, so in this example, the manual
  should be updated so that each 'date' example looks as

  $(date +\%u) - or whatever the format character example is.
  My example cron from above executes as expected as
  * * * * * echo $(date +\%Y)

  which send me an email simply with "2013"

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