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Date:      Mon, 18 May 1998 15:28:33 -0700 (PDT)
From:      Doug White <dwhite@gdi.uoregon.edu>
To:        Richard Coleman <coleman@math.gatech.edu>
Cc:        questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: root's crontab?
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.3.96.980518152641.9951x-100000@gdi.uoregon.edu>
In-Reply-To: <199805172001.QAA16435@cypress.math.gatech.edu>

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On Sun, 17 May 1998, Richard Coleman wrote:

> When I do "crontab -l" as root, the system states that root has no
> crontab.  Yet it apppears the file /etc/crontab is functioning as
> root's crontab (since logfiles are being rotated, etc.).  This is
> counter-intuitive.  Is there a rationale for this behavior?

Discourages people from logging in as root to change root's crontab, and
(IMHO) it separates system tasks (like daily maintenance) from personal
tasks (filtering root's mail).  

I noted that the Linux box next to me here (which I am NOT using!) does it
this way.  It threw me when /etc/crontab didn't exist.  

> Also, the fact that this file is world-readable, seems like a
> bad idea (a small, but potential security risk).

cron runs a root so you can make it 500 if you want.

Doug White                              | University of Oregon  
Internet:  dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu    | Residence Networking Assistant
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dwhite    | Computer Science Major



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