From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 17 15:31:08 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9F7DB16A421 for ; Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:31:08 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wmoran@potentialtech.com) Received: from mail.potentialtech.com (internet.potentialtech.com [66.167.251.6]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 07F8E13C46A for ; Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:31:08 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wmoran@potentialtech.com) Received: from vanquish.pitbpa0.priv.collaborativefusion.com (pr40.pitbpa0.pub.collaborativefusion.com [206.210.89.202]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mail.potentialtech.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 11F03EBC81; Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:31:03 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:30:58 -0400 From: Bill Moran To: "Steve Franks" Message-Id: <20070917113058.a85fec74.wmoran@potentialtech.com> In-Reply-To: <539c60b90709170822yedd52e0mcc9c8a5ff8ed0932@mail.gmail.com> References: <539c60b90709170822yedd52e0mcc9c8a5ff8ed0932@mail.gmail.com> X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.4 (GTK+ 2.10.14; i386-portbld-freebsd6.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: User Questions Subject: Re: cron jobs not done during sleep X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:31:08 -0000 In response to "Steve Franks" : > Correct me if I'm wrong, but cron doesn't keep track of the last time > something was done, does it? Which is to say if my system is crashed, > was asleep, or powered off when a job is supposed to happen, it will > not happen the next time the system is successfully operational, will > it? It's not obvious to me for sure either way from any sources I've > read (man crontab, google), and unix tends towards k.i.s.s. (which is > why we like it) > > ...I understand why that would be important behavior if something > would cause problems executed other than 9am on Mondays... > > Is there a tool or setting to implement this functionality? I want > something to happen weekly, I don't care when. Assume I am off the > commercial power grid and I'm not going to leave my system powered on > just to make sure my backups get run. I use it when I need it, then I > turn it off. More people should. Electricity is not free from a > economic, social, or environmental perspective, and promises to be > less so with time. BSD's cron doesn't have this functionality. The Linux folks have a cron-ish program that does recognize when jobs have been missed and runs them at the earliest opportunity. I dislike it, personally, but I can see where it's convenient in some circumstances. http://anacron.sourceforge.net/ It's in ports. -- Bill Moran http://www.potentialtech.com