Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2016 11:26:00 +0000 From: bugzilla-noreply@freebsd.org To: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: [Bug 210621] poor "system crontab" documentation Message-ID: <bug-210621-9@https.bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/>
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https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=3D210621 Bug ID: 210621 Summary: poor "system crontab" documentation Product: Documentation Version: Latest Hardware: Any OS: Any Status: New Severity: Affects Only Me Priority: --- Component: Documentation Assignee: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org Reporter: freebsd-bugzilla@ayaken.net cron(8) mentions: "The cron utility also searches for /etc/crontab which is= in a different format (see crontab(5))" crontab(5) then mentions, somewhere hidden inside the wall of text, the specifics of the different format: "Each line has five time and date fields, followed by a user name (with optional ``:<group>'' and ``/<login-class>'' suffixes) if this is the system crontab file, followed by a command." So the specifics of the format of /etc/crontab are mentioned in a subclause= in the middle of crontab(5). What this extra field _does_ is not specified (one would assume it's being used to su to the user, but there's no mention of w= hat effect either :group, nor /login-class would do on top of the user's native group or login class). I suggest moving the specifics of /etc/crontab's format into an own paragra= ph, complete with paragraph header so that when glancing over crontab(5) one wi= ll find it easily and quickly, along with _detailed_ information about what th= is extra field does, also in conjunction with cron(8)'s flags, see below. cron(8) mentions: "-J rootjitter Enable time jitter for superuser jobs. The same as -j except that it will affect jobs run by the superuser only." - Does this apply to the "system crontab" only? Or to the root's USER cront= ab only? Or to any *tab* run by root (i.e., /etc/crontab, root's crontab, toor= 's crontab, and any other uid=3D0 user's crontab?) What about the aforemention= ed sixth-user-name-field jobs in /etc/crontab? Does it apply -j or -J? I suggest properly documenting this in cron(8), with a reminder in crontab(= 5). /etc/crontab mentions: "/etc/crontab - root's crontab for FreeBSD". Well, i= t is NOT root's crontab. (A) It has support for a special field that users' cron= tabs don't, (B) root's "crontab -e" will NOT pull up /etc/crontab, but root's own crontab. I suggest s/root's/system/;s/D/D - cf. crontab(5)/ --=20 You are receiving this mail because: You are the assignee for the bug.=
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