Broken crontab/anacron

[Robert Nichols]

James Pifer wrote:
> I rebuilt one of my systems last week using FC3 and somehow I broke
> anacron or crontab. It hasn't run since Jan 20th according to what is in
> root's mailbox. 
> 
> I think the problem is anacron. I can't seem to get it running, or at
> least keep it running. It says it starts, but then when I look at the
> processes, it isn't running. The problem is I don't see anything in any
> logs about problems with it. 
> 
> Does anacron write logs to messages? 
> What's the best way to troubleshoot it?
> 
> My /etc/crontab HAD this in it:
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
> MAILTO=root
> HOME=/
> 
> # run-parts
> 01 * * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.hourly
> 02 4 * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.daily
> 22 4 * * 0 root run-parts /etc/cron.weekly
> 42 4 1 * * root run-parts /etc/cron.monthly
> 00 01 * * * root /root/mythtvdbbackup
> 00 03 * * * root /root/backupvideos
> 35 * * * * root /root/mythlink.sh
> 
> 
> Now it has this:
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
> MAILTO=root
> HOME=/
> 
> # run-parts
> 01 * * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.hourly
> 02 4 * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.daily
> 22 4 * * 0 root run-parts /etc/cron.weekly
> 42 4 1 * * root run-parts /etc/cron.monthly
> 
> 
> Permissions on it are:
> [root at mythtv etc]# ls -l crontab
> -rwxr--r--  1 root root 254 Jan 24 09:22 crontab
> 
> 
> Here's what I get when I try to start it. 
> [root at mythtv etc]# service anacron start
> Starting anacron:                                          [  OK  ]
> [root at mythtv etc]# service anacron status
> anacron is stopped
> [root at mythtv etc]# 

That's normal.  The job of the anacron daemon is to run jobs that were
missed while the system was shut down.  See the manpage for anacron,
paying particular attention to the line:

    "When there are no more jobs to be run, Anacron exits."

--
Bob Nichols         rnichols42 at comcast.net