[Bug 1811553] [NEW] cron does not expand $USER but should be able to to

[Humphrey van Polanen Petel]

Public bug reported:

in a script running through crontab I cannot expand $USER, though I can expand $HOME.
however $HOME includes $USER
therefore CRON should be able to expand $USER

if not then CRON is inconsistent

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: cron 3.0pl1-128ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-43.46~16.04.1-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-43-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.18
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun Jan 13 17:17:18 2019
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-01-02 (10 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170801)
SourcePackage: cron
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug xenial

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1811553

Title:
  cron does not expand $USER but should be able to to

Status in cron package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  in a script running through crontab I cannot expand $USER, though I can expand $HOME.
  however $HOME includes $USER
  therefore CRON should be able to expand $USER

  if not then CRON is inconsistent

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
  Package: cron 3.0pl1-128ubuntu2
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-43.46~16.04.1-generic 4.15.18
  Uname: Linux 4.15.0-43-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.18
  Architecture: amd64
  CurrentDesktop: Unity
  Date: Sun Jan 13 17:17:18 2019
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-01-02 (10 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170801)
  SourcePackage: cron
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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