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Date:      Sun, 09 Feb 2020 05:37:51 -0800
From:      Cy Schubert <Cy.Schubert@cschubert.com>
To:        freebsd-arch@freebsd.org, Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@phk.freebsd.dk>, "N.J. Mann" <njm@njm.me.uk>
Subject:   Re: updating cron and atrun
Message-ID:  <55C50689-6DA8-4D44-92BB-72C38B54AC96@cschubert.com>
In-Reply-To: <8967.1581243035@critter.freebsd.dk>
References:  <CAJzSF_7N4A-_6LfjivWRirNkTHv3ANWu%2BBX6g1UOKqdYmDZZNA@mail.gmail.com> <6701.1581190231@critter.freebsd.dk> <97A66670F59C9C626B5090E3@triton.njm.me.uk> <8967.1581243035@critter.freebsd.dk>

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On February 9, 2020 2:10:35 AM PST, Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@phk=2Efreebsd=2E=
dk> wrote:
>--------
>In message <97A66670F59C9C626B5090E3@triton=2Enjm=2Eme=2Euk>, "N=2EJ=2E M=
ann"
>writes:
>>Hi,
>>
>>On Saturday, February 08, 2020 19:30:31 +0000 Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:
>>>=20
>>> Thanks for looking into this=2E
>>>=20
>>> Is at(1) something people actually use these days, or should it be
>>> disabled by default ?
>>
>>I do=2E  I use it to run various homebrew scripts in response to
>external
>>events=2E  I needed a delay (sometime minutes, sometimes hours) between
>>the event and the response and at(1) was a perfect fit=2E
>
>Right, it is absolutely useful to have, if you need it, and it should
>not be removed=2E
>
>But if, as I suspect, the vast majority of FreeBSD pointlessly add=20
>288 lines to /var/log/cron every day, without anybody ever using the
>at(1)
>command, maybe we should disable it to save power and disk-wear ?

I use at at(1) and batch(1) all the time, on FreeBSD and other platforms=
=2E Most people I know, professionally, don't know about these commands=2E =
They add the 288 lines to cron every day=2E They're not interested when I e=
xplain to them a better way to do it=2E What's worse, at $JOB, at(1) and ba=
tch(1) have been uninstalled on Linux (while they remain on the other platf=
orms) because the senior Linux person (who left our employ three weeks ago)=
 felt people didn't understand the utilities and, they could add anything t=
o cron for a day if they wanted=2E=20

The idea of removing at(1) and batch(1) is not new=2E People generally hav=
e no idea what they do and people are unwilling to chance using them or lea=
rning something new because they're busy working=2E That's my experience=2E=
=20



--=20
Pardon the typos and autocorrect, small keyboard in use=2E=20
Cy Schubert <Cy=2ESchubert@cschubert=2Ecom>
FreeBSD UNIX: <cy@FreeBSD=2Eorg> Web: https://www=2EFreeBSD=2Eorg

The need of the many outweighs the greed of the few=2E

Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail=2E Please excuse my brevity=2E



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