Date: Fri, 05 May 2000 10:46:13 -0700 From: Doug Barton <DougB@gorean.org> To: Doug Young <dougy@gargoyle.apana.org.au> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: "bad day_of_the_month" (yes really !!!) cron questions Message-ID: <391308E5.2790ADC@gorean.org> References: <018e01bfb62c$58481b00$847e03cb@ROADRUNNER> <20000505131420.A798@jonc.itouch.co.nz> <01aa01bfb632$612c3390$847e03cb@ROADRUNNER> <39125312.725B8355@gorean.org> <004401bfb688$bb875800$847e03cb@ROADRUNNER>
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Doug Young wrote:
>
> Thanks for the comments ..... hopefully I'll get this issue under control
> now :)
>
> > You attached /usr/bin/crontab. Please don't get me wrong, but you
> > _really_ need to learn how to read man pages if you're going to have any
> > chance at all administering freebsd. The element you probably missed is
> > in the cron manpage where it tells you to go to crontab(5) to see the
> > format. That means that you use the following command:
> >
> Well I did try using try using the command literally, ie "crontab(5)", and
> only
> got a weird (and meaningless to me) error message. This illustrates one of
> the
> countless issues that causes untold aggro to those of us unfamiliar with the
> terminology.
If you want to run a unix system, you have to learn how to run a unix
system. There are 30 years of tradition and sometimes even good reasons
behind why things are the way they are. In this instance, 'man man'
would have showed you how to solve your problem.
> I guess I should take an active interest in the docs mailing
> list,
> its probably the only way to have an influence on fixing confusing info such
> as that.
You won't be able to "fix" referring to man pages with syntax like
"crontab(5)." It's not broken. It's just something you have to learn.
> the only way I know to send mail from
> command
> line is using something like "mail blah@someplace.com <filename control-D",
I'm not sure where you got the idea that the ^D was necessary, but it's
not.
> > The easiest way to
> > accomplish what you want is to first write a script that does what you
> > want it to do (mailing the logs, and such). Then read crontab(5) to
> > figure out how to make it run when you want it to run.
>
> Thats OK if you know about writing scripts, but not a lot of use otherwise.
> As for reading stuff, most of us already have extremely high workloads,
> and I'm sure I'm not the only one in that position.
Ok, let me get this straight. You don't want to read the documentation,
you don't want to learn how to write even the most simple scripts (which
are essential for doing any kind of automated administration tasks) ...
oh well.
> I do read as much as
> possible, but unfortunately the docs are typically written by experts for
> other experts .... ie heaps of critical steps are missing.
Sometimes that's true, but we do work to improve that constantly. But
the thing about unix is that you have to start somewhere. We depend on
the user to educate themselves to some extent. If they aren't willing to
do some work on their own, there is no silver platter that we can hand
it to them on.
Good luck,
Doug
--
Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from
acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.
-- W. Somerset Maugham
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