Cron: Give us a "real" cron subsystem. (BusyBox bites)

[pwilson]

The "cron" subsystem on QNAP NAS units, is nothing more than a BusyBox function as implemented. I use the word "implemented" sarcastically, as the BusyBox binary provided since at least Firmware v3.6.0 does not understand QNAP's location of it's Crontab file, and therefore changes made are not persistent.

A Linux machine without a working "scheduler" causes all kinds of problems, as many OpenSource programs expect a working Cron subsystem to be in place already.

Please add "Cron" scheduling support within the Admin WebUI as well, so that "SSH" access etc isn't required to actually use the scheduler. Issues with "crontab" are frustrating, and "workarounds" such as those listed in QNAPedia article: Add items to crontab are cumbersome. Average users should not need to "SSH" into their NAS units, and run bizarre procedures in order to add persistent crontab entries to their NAS units.

Please provide a working "cron" subsystem, that does NOT require/use BusyBox. (Sourcecode for "cron" has been freely available since the 1970's).

See my posting: Re: Shell script and cron entry disappeared!? written on Tue Jul 17, 2012 12:51 am

There is no excuse for letting this issue go unresolved for so long. A working "cron" subsystem is as much a part of Linux as the "vi" editor. Please fix this as quickly as possible.

Patrick.

[schumaku]

No -it's not BusyBox that bites - it's the difference between the native Linux cron and the embedded corn

[illidan155]

up

a cron job system is necessary nowadays in order to automatize many jobs

[pwilson]

No -it's not BusyBox that bites - it's the difference between the native Linux cron and the embedded corn

I'm perfectly capable of doing the "workarounds" listed in the Wiki article, but it isn't a task I'd want to recommend to a QNAP "newbie" who knows nothing about Linux or embedded Linux systems. (I'm quite comfortable editing files in Linux, but most people aren't).

I'm am not a fan of Busybox. Perhaps I would be more of a fan, if busybox's internal functions very closer to those I have grown accustomed to using in Ubuntu I'd be a lot happier. Perhaps if busybox was replaced with a newer (QNAP cron-aware) version I'd be happier.

Surely someone at QNAP simply create a QPKG to swap in a newer (QNAP cron-aware) "busybox" at boot time. This would provide a functional resolution to the problem, and would restore a basic functionality that is currently broken. This would "patch" the problem, and allow their programmers to return to working on whatever is coming down the pipe to us next. (An updated "busybox" will be needed for the next firmware anyway, so this is still a good use of programmers time. Only the QPKG packaging would be additional labour, and even that should be minimal, as QNAP's programmers are probably already proficient at using their own packaging system).

This isn't a request for a new feature, it is a request for a BugFix for a long standing issue. We can't exactly compile one up ourselves, as we won't be aware of other path issues etc that need to be addressed when working with the original source on an embedded device. As QNAP already has 95% working "busybox", they could squash this bug, and fix both the present and the future with minimal effort or expense required.

Either give me a working standalone "cron" subsystem, or fix busybox so that it can provide a working "cron" subsystem, at this point I really don't care "how" it gets fixed, I simply want it fixed. We're talking about a basic functionality of Linux, that other software relies on actually working. A scheduler is a pretty basic function.

This should be relatively easy for QNAP to fix, they already have the sourcecode of their customized busybox to work with. Or they could do it right and start customizing from newer sources. At this point I'd accept a "patched" busybox, I would be happy to figure out how to bootstrap it into place all by myself. In fact if I was able to get such a "patched" busybox, I would be happy to document how I did it for the benefit of others. I strongly believe in QNAP, and their products, but there are a few annoyances that remain unresolved, this just happens to be the "big one" in my world. .

I repeat again a working cron subsystem is as much as part of Linux as the "vi" editor, this issue has gone unresolved for too long.

Patrick.

[Misterd]

I suspect there is a reason why a true, customer-accessible, Cron system is not provided.
If a noob screws up the Crontab, the QNAP becomes a support nightmare, paid-support or not.

Given that, I still don't see why you can't even have 2 Crontab files, one customer-accessible, the other QNAP-only.