Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:59:21 +0200 From: Pietro Cerutti <gahr@FreeBSD.org> To: Jeremy Chadwick <koitsu@FreeBSD.org> Cc: David Hawthorne <dhawth@bitgravity.com>, freebsd-ports@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Question about ports adding cronjobs Message-ID: <48584FD9.9060201@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <20080617235639.GA33355@eos.sc1.parodius.com> References: <746214C8-3863-4B29-8B01-230579284C76@bitgravity.com> <4858428A.80502@FreeBSD.org> <20080617235639.GA33355@eos.sc1.parodius.com>
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA512 Jeremy Chadwick wrote: | On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 01:02:34AM +0200, Pietro Cerutti wrote: |> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- |> Hash: SHA512 |> |> David Hawthorne wrote: |> | I have a piece of software I've been working on that gathers stats about |> | the local host and shoves them into rrd files, with an accompanying web |> | front-end page that generates pretty graphs from the RRDs on demand. I |> | have a package done up for it, and I'd like to add it to the ports tree |> | eventually, but I'm stuck on how to get it to automagically add the |> | cronjob to have the stats gathering script run every five minutes, and I |> | don't know of any ports that add cronjobs off the top of my head to go |> | look at. |> | |> | Is there an approved standard for doing this? It doesn't have to be as |> | root, either, it can run under a different user. Any advice on how to |> | get the port to add the user (and remove it properly when the port is |> | deinstalled) properly and securely would be appreciated as well. |> |> The only port which comes to my mind which goes near to what you want to |> achieve is sysutils/bsdstats, which installs a script in periodic/monthly. |> If running daily is enough you may want to look at that. |> |> Another option would be to create a support script/daemon and place it |> in rc.d. The script/daemon would then sit idle and wake up once every |> <your preferred time here> and gather your statistics. |> |> Third option: instruct the user (via a message at post-install stage) on |> how to setup the cron job. | | Or a fourth option: do what mail/postfix does, and prompt you | interactively during the install phase whether or not you want <thing> | done to your system. In the case of mail/postfix, it prompts you to | permit modification of /etc/mail/mailer.conf. Thought that as well, but it complicates package building and doesn't bring much. I mean, to echo "add xx yy to your crontab" is not a big deal.. | | Automatic modification of cronjobs, system files, etc. == generally | shunned. I don't mind if the port asks me for permission to do such, | but I do mind if it blindly starts modifying things on my system without | my approval. | - -- Pietro Cerutti gahr@FreeBSD.org PGP Public Key: http://gahr.ch/pgp -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (FreeBSD) iEYEAREKAAYFAkhYT9gACgkQwMJqmJVx947y6gCgw8EPXi4iyaQuKHB4E0nAMCDX 4YYAoJ6LHH3zgki6D4LFb3oa2fUv3g3q =SByC -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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