From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Nov 7 01:58:11 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BF906414 for ; Thu, 7 Nov 2013 01:58:11 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from feld@FreeBSD.org) Received: from out1-smtp.messagingengine.com (out1-smtp.messagingengine.com [66.111.4.25]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher AECDH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 93C1A2067 for ; Thu, 7 Nov 2013 01:58:11 +0000 (UTC) Received: from compute2.internal (compute2.nyi.mail.srv.osa [10.202.2.42]) by gateway1.nyi.mail.srv.osa (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3B86C21C33 for ; Wed, 6 Nov 2013 20:49:37 -0500 (EST) Received: from web3 ([10.202.2.213]) by compute2.internal (MEProxy); Wed, 06 Nov 2013 20:49:37 -0500 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed/relaxed; d= messagingengine.com; h=message-id:from:to:mime-version :content-transfer-encoding:content-type:in-reply-to:references :subject:date; s=smtpout; bh=6Ha31M4v0GcZpCzG43ValfAZJLA=; b=Qya SlNhGpiMFlknbG4LW+CVhuQkbng6J/q9xbZJvL/0qI9quxKPjw7B/JjHD8EGWucV iAjWjiKE0e4pxWfoasPEz1I9GzwoPxvI2EwBXJk0Fsfzj1S3lOgIRGEPGBZuOP4v P0boxJh4dcbG4mBTbJKwlv8XtsU9i/ywTtRqTYaE= Received: by web3.nyi.mail.srv.osa (Postfix, from userid 99) id 1BA6510CBFE; Wed, 6 Nov 2013 20:49:37 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <1383788977.14448.44112617.6F0D61A0@webmail.messagingengine.com> X-Sasl-Enc: VynoeODyq6GWXL1rFWOi8AXq9Yos+1OOFOuxKycha/V/ 1383788977 From: Mark Felder To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain X-Mailer: MessagingEngine.com Webmail Interface - ajax-d4893488 In-Reply-To: <488180AE-5C23-402A-BAA4-E3263D8C52BF@kientzle.com> References: <52792B60.1030309@allanjude.com> <488180AE-5C23-402A-BAA4-E3263D8C52BF@kientzle.com> Subject: Re: cron(8) improvement Date: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 19:49:37 -0600 X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 01:58:11 -0000 On Wed, Nov 6, 2013, at 18:21, Tim Kientzle wrote: > > On Nov 5, 2013, at 9:31 AM, Allan Jude wrote: > > > This came up in discussion on IRC and I thought I should throw it at the > > list so I don't forget. > > > > A user was asking how to do what linux cron does, where there is a > > directory /etc/cron.d/ that packages and add files to to create crontabs. > > > > Making FreeBSD's cron (Vixie Cron) include /etc/cron.d/ and > > /usr/local/etc/cron.d/ in the /etc/crontab format seems like a very > > useful feature, especially for pkg(8) as it makes it easy and safe to > > programatically add and remove crontabs as part of a package. > > This is a good idea. We should do it. > > How and if this facility gets used is a separate question. > > "Tools, not policy." > > Support for a cron.d directory is a tool that can be > used in many ways. The policy of how it should be > used is a separate discussion. (For example, whether > or not ports or packages should install crontab files into > /usr/local/etc/cron.d/ can be richly debated after that > directory exists.) > Ok, so we create that directory. Now nobody can use it in a port until FreeBSD 8.4 is EoL -- approximately June 30, 2015. We should be using the existing cron tabs directory *now*. We can't easily force older versions of FreeBSD to update their cron software or configuration to support that new directory. I'm not saying we shouldn't create it, just that we can't effectively use it for 2 years.