cron job not running

[Helmut Schneider]

Helmut Schneider wrote:

> Patrick Asselman wrote:
> 
> > On Tue, 29 May 2012 16:06:47 +0000 (UTC), Helmut Schneider wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > > 
> > > if I put this into /etc/crontab:
> > > 
> > > *       *       *       *       *       root    aptitude -syV
> > > safe-upgrade | grep -E '^\s+.*$'"
> > > 
> > > nothing happens. If I run the same command from dash:
> > > 
> > > ~$ aptitude -syV safe-upgrade | grep -E '^\s+.*$'
> > >  libsnmp-base [5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.1 ->
> > > 5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.2]
> > >  libsnmp15 [5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.1 ->
> > > 5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.2]
> > >  libssl0.9.8 [0.9.8k-7ubuntu8.11 -> 0.9.8k-7ubuntu8.13]
> > >  libxml2 [2.7.6.dfsg-1ubuntu1.4 -> 2.7.6.dfsg-1ubuntu1.5]
> > >  openssl [0.9.8k-7ubuntu8.11 -> 0.9.8k-7ubuntu8.13]
> > >  snmp [5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.1 ->
> > > 5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.2]
> > >  snmpd [5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.1 ->
> > > 5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.2]
> > > ~$
> > > 
> > > Even if I put those line into a shell-script (dash) it does not
> > > give any output.
> > > 
> > > According to cron.log the job should have run:
> > > 
> > > May 29 17:36:01 desoggw05 CRON[22700]: pam_unix(cron:session):
> > > session opened for user root by (uid=0)
> > > May 29 17:36:01 desoggw05 CRON[22701]: (root) CMD (aptitude -syV
> > > safe-upgrade | grep -E '^\s+.*$')
> > > May 29 17:36:02 desoggw05 CRON[22700]: pam_unix(cron:session):
> > > session closed for user root
> > > 
> > > If I change the REGEX to '^ +.*$' the script runs fine.
> > > 
> > > Why?
> > > 
> > > Tested on 10.04 und 12.04.
> > > 
> > > Thanks, Helmut
> > 
> > Maybe it did run? Where did you look for output? I would think it
> > ends  up in root's mailbox, so maybe a sudo cat /var/mail/root
> > will reveal something.
> 
> Yeah, checking the mails, the same that arrive when I cahnge the
> REGEX.
> 
> > If not, try changing the command to
> > aptitude -syV safe-upgrade | grep -E '^\s+.*$'" > /tmp/whatever.log
> > at the end of the command, and see what thw logfile gives?
> 
> helmut at mail:~$ tail -10 /var/log/cron.log
> May 29 19:09:01 mail cron[844]: (*system*) RELOAD (/etc/crontab)
> May 29 19:09:01 mail CRON[6912]: pam_unix(cron:session): session
> opened for user root by (uid=0)
> May 29 19:09:01 mail CRON[6913]: (root) CMD (   aptitude -syV
> safe-upgrade | grep -E '^\s+.*$'" > /tmp/whatever.log)
> May 29 19:09:01 mail CRON[6912]: pam_unix(cron:session): session
> closed for user root
> helmut at mail:~$ sudo ls -la /tmp/whatever.log
> ls: cannot access /tmp/whatever.log: No such file or directory
> helmut at mail:~$

My fault, one quote too much. Anway:

May 29 19:48:01 mail CRON[7267]: (root) CMD (   aptitude -syV
safe-upgrade | grep -E '^\s+.*$' > /tmp/whatever.log)

12.04 creates expected content in /tmp/whatever.log, on 10.04 the file
remains size of 0 bytes:

u1dd_hr at desoggw05:~$ sudo ls -la /tmp/whatever.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2012-05-29 19:48 /tmp/whatever.log
u1dd_hr at desoggw05:~$ aptitude -syV safe-upgrade | grep -E '^\s+.*$'
  libsnmp-base [5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.1 ->
5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.2]
  libsnmp15 [5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.1 ->
5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.2]
  libssl0.9.8 [0.9.8k-7ubuntu8.11 -> 0.9.8k-7ubuntu8.13]
  libxml2 [2.7.6.dfsg-1ubuntu1.4 -> 2.7.6.dfsg-1ubuntu1.5]
  openssl [0.9.8k-7ubuntu8.11 -> 0.9.8k-7ubuntu8.13]
  snmp [5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.1 ->
5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.2]
  snmpd [5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.1 ->
5.4.2.1~dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2.2]
u1dd_hr at desoggw05:~$