From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Aug 27 20:06:53 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0469D16A4CE for ; Fri, 27 Aug 2004 20:06:53 +0000 (GMT) Received: from smtp811.mail.sc5.yahoo.com (smtp811.mail.sc5.yahoo.com [66.163.170.81]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 7AFCE43D64 for ; Fri, 27 Aug 2004 20:06:52 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from krinklyfig@spymac.com) Received: from unknown (HELO smogmonster.com) (jtinnin@pacbell.net@64.171.1.210 with login) by smtp811.mail.sc5.yahoo.com with SMTP; 27 Aug 2004 20:06:52 -0000 From: Joshua Tinnin To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 13:07:00 -0700 User-Agent: KMail/1.6.2 References: <200408260007.26659.krinklyfig@spymac.com> <200408261313.16037.krinklyfig@spymac.com> <412E6C64.4070403@daleco.biz> In-Reply-To: <412E6C64.4070403@daleco.biz> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <200408271307.00229.krinklyfig@spymac.com> Subject: Re: crontab question involving cvsup X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: krinklyfig@spymac.com List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 20:06:53 -0000 On Thursday 26 August 2004 04:04 pm, "Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P." wrote: > Joshua Tinnin wrote: > >On Thursday 26 August 2004 08:28 am, "Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P." > > > > wrote: > >>Unlike the system crontab, user crontabs, including root's, are > >>under /var/cron; the file format is slightly different, and misuse > >>of the system crontab for regular jobs is the cause of several > >>FAQ posts we see here every few months or so; one of these goes > >>something like, "why do I get an email from cron saying it can't > >>complete my job, unknown user, etc. ??".... > > > >Again, I see nothing in the documentation warning against editing > > the system crontab file, only that it can't be installed/edited > > with the crontab command. > > > >- jt > > Well, you *can* do it that way ... but I wouldn't. No flub up of > mine when running mergemaster is going to touch /var/cron/tabs/root; > OTOH, if I put my script calls in /etc/crontab ... OK, what you said makes much more sense now. See, I'm the kind of person who has to know *exactly* why I shouldn't put my hand in the burning fire, or if not I just might do it ;) > My point was that /etc/crontab is there for the machine, and > per-user crontabs are there for the users --- and that includes > root, so why not use it for what it's for? > > Of course, one of the nice things about BSD, if you know > how and why, you can do it any way you like, almost... Yes, although I do plan on upgrading to 5.3 (from 5.2.1) once it goes to STABLE, so it's probably best if I put this cron job in the primary user's crontab file. - jt