Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 09:09:21 +1100 From: Tony Landells <ahl@austclear.com.au> To: Lowell Gilbert <lowell@world.std.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG, genisis@istar.ca Subject: Re: cron mail Message-ID: <200102212209.JAA26055@tungsten.austclear.com.au> In-Reply-To: Message from Lowell Gilbert <lowell@world.std.com> of "21 Feb 2001 16:49:09 CDT." <44itm3emga.fsf@lowellg.ne.mediaone.net>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> genisis@istar.ca (Dru) writes: > > You appear to be confused about the difference between "crontab crontab" > and "crontab /etc/crontab". /etc/crontab is not, as you claimed, a > "crontab that you've created with an editor." It's a very different > file, with a slightly different format, and completely inappropriate > for installation with the crontab command. I repeat that I am *sure* > that Greg Lehey never advised typing "crontab /etc/crontab". [I don't > have that edition to check, but I'm still completely confident.] I think that's the crux of the whole issue. Greg Lehey's example is, as you suggest, "crontab crontab" to install a file called "crontab". However, I can imagine someone not understanding the distinction and thinking "I've made a change to /etc/crontab, I'd better re-install it by typing 'crontab /etc/crontab', per the example in Greg's book." I think it's been made clear that /etc/crontab is a different format to the crontab files used by the crontab command. Although "The Complete FreeBSD" (2nd Edition) does say that the "user" field is unique to /etc/crontab, and you shouldn't include it in your own crontab files, I don't think it's adequately clear that you DON'T use the crontab command to install /etc/crontab. I haven't checked the Errata to see whether this is something Greg has clarified... Cheers, Tony -- Tony Landells <ahl@austclear.com.au> Senior Network Engineer Ph: +61 3 9677 9319 Australian Clearing Services Pty Ltd Fax: +61 3 9677 9355 Level 4, Rialto North Tower 525 Collins Street Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200102212209.JAA26055>