[HELP] Editing Crontab

Discussion about using NAS on Linux and Unix OS.
wechap
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[HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by wechap »

Hello All

I'm a complete noob to Unix. I am trying to edit the crontab file, i can edit it by tryping

crontab -e admin

I can then make changes etc, then i try to save it with :wq but it never saves the changes. I'm obviously doing something wrong I just can't figure out what. Using an outdated Linux Handbook doesn't help iether.

Thanks in advance
wechap
Last edited by wechap on Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.
wechap
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by wechap »

Figured it out :wink:
wechap
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by wechap »

I thought I had figured it out :evil:

I created a txt file called cron.txt with the modified commands and ran crontab cron.txt, I than ran crontab -l to make sure the change had worked and all looked ok, but after rebooting i am back to the default crontab.

I am trying to change the imr_all command so that it only runs on the folder that contains the pictures instead of all the folders in my Qmultimedia share, otherwise it runs for hours before it completes.

Anyone know why the crontab would reset to the default?
Stephen Howard
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by Stephen Howard »

Hi. Changes to /etc don't survive a reboot. However, QNAP have provided a method to automatically recreate customisations after every reboot:

The way to do it is to put your customisations in autorun.sh, a script that qnap runs immediately after a reboot. autorun.sh is hidden away on a partition that is normally unmounted, but it can be accessed as follows (for my dual disk 209 anyway):

# mount /dev/mtdblock5 /tmp/config
# cd /tmp/config

Add your modifications to autorun.sh and then unmount the partition:

# cd /
# umount /tmp/config

From now on your customisations will be automatically recreated on every reboot.
wechap
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by wechap »

Thanks Stephen, works nicely
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christian
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by christian »

Stephen Howard wrote:Add your modifications to autorun.sh and then unmount the partition:
Hello Stephen,

please can you explain to me what excactly is to change or to add when i have changed the crontab ?

Code: Select all

[~] # mount /dev/mtdblock5 /tmp/config
[~] # cd /tmp/config
[/tmp/config] # cat autorun.sh
#!/bin/sh


# added by SSODS (ssods-ts $Revision: 1.3 $) on Sun Apr 20 00:08:15 CEST 2008
ln -sf /share/HDA_DATA /volume1 # SSODS (keep the tag!)
/volume1/SSODS/etc/init.d/rc.ssods start # SSODS (keep the tag!)
[/tmp/config] #
regards Christian
lou2step
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by lou2step »

Hi wechap,
Just one remark upon crontab : if you have already tasks in the crontab, don't forget to save them :

Code: Select all

crontab -e >crontab.txt
then you can edit and complete crontab.txt.

Code: Select all

crontab crontab.txt
Anyway, it don't solve the reboot problem.
Lou2step
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by v2k »

I run crontab -e; make some changes, save them.

Then I run crontab -l or crontab -e and the changes are gone.

I also tried stopping crond, editing /etc/config/crobtab and restarting crond; again my changes are gone.

Anyone had this problem?
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Eraser-EMC2-
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by Eraser-EMC2- »

Hi,

edit the crontab in /etc/config as before and then run "crontab /etc/config/crontab".
This will configure the crontab with your new entries.
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v2k
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by v2k »

Perfect, thank you!
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by v2k »

Any idea how to get cron to log to a file on the qnap? Or setup cron to send mail?
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stoopid
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by stoopid »

The autorun.sh trick does not appear to work.
micke
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by micke »

stoopid wrote:The autorun.sh trick does not appear to work.
Different mount points for ARM and Intel systems, but you don't need it to edit the crontab. Make your changes to /etc/config/crontab and run 'crontab /etc/config/crontab'.

/Mike
nicholjohns
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by nicholjohns »

Editing crontabs follow thats tips first crontab restruction,then you give command,open the file syntex,disable the mail account then generate log file for crontab activity.use this contrab command
export EDITOR=vi ;to specify a editor to open crontab file.
crontab -e Edit your crontab file, or create one if it doesn’t already exist.
crontab -l Display your crontab file.
crontab -r Remove your crontab file.
crontab -v Display the last time you edited your crontab file.
stoopid
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Re: [HELP] Editing Crontab

Post by stoopid »

micke wrote:
stoopid wrote:The autorun.sh trick does not appear to work.
Different mount points for ARM and Intel systems, but you don't need it to edit the crontab. Make your changes to /etc/config/crontab and run 'crontab /etc/config/crontab'.

/Mike
Sweet, I'll update the Wiki.
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