.\" .\" Copyright (c) 2002-2003 Todd C. Miller .\" .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above .\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies. .\" .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES .\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR .\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES .\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. .\" .\" Sponsored in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects .\" Agency (DARPA) and Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force .\" Materiel Command, USAF, under agreement number F39502-99-1-0512. .\" .\" $OpenBSD: cron.8,v 1.28 2007/02/18 23:59:03 jmc Exp $ .\" .Dd July 6, 2002 .Dt CRON 8 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm cron .Nd clock daemon .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm cron .Op Fl n .Op Fl l Ar load_avg .Oo .Fl x .Sm off .Oo Ar ext , sch , proc , .Ar pars , load , misc , test .Oc .Sm on .Oc .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm daemon schedules commands to be run at specified dates and times. Commands that are to be run periodically are specified within .Xr crontab 5 files. Commands that are only to be run once are scheduled via the .Xr at 1 and .Xr batch 1 commands. Normally, the .Nm daemon is started from the .Pa /etc/rc command script. Because it can execute commands on a user's behalf, .Nm should be run late in the startup sequence, as close to the time when logins are accepted as possible. .Pp .Nm loads .Xr crontab 5 and .Xr at 1 files when it starts up and also when changes are made via the .Xr crontab 1 and .Xr at 1 commands. Additionally, .Nm checks the modification time on the system crontab file .Pq Pa /etc/crontab , the crontab spool .Pq Pa /var/cron/tabs , and the at spool .Pq Pa /var/cron/atjobs once a minute. If the modification time has changed, the affected files are reloaded. .Pp Any output produced by a command is sent to the user specified in the .Ev MAILTO environment variable as set in the .Xr crontab 5 file or, if no .Ev MAILTO variable is set (or if this is an .Xr at 1 or .Xr batch 1 job), to the job's owner. If a command produces no output or if the .Ev MAILTO environment variable is set to the empty string, no mail will be sent. The exception to this is .Xr at 1 or .Xr batch 1 jobs submitted with the .Fl m flag. In this case, mail will be sent even if the job produces no output. .Ss Daylight Saving Time and other time changes Local time changes of less than three hours, such as those caused by the start or end of Daylight Saving Time, are handled specially. This only applies to jobs that run at a specific time and jobs that are run with a granularity greater than one hour. Jobs that run more frequently are scheduled normally. .Pp If time has moved forward, those jobs that would have run in the interval that has been skipped will be run immediately. Conversely, if time has moved backward, care is taken to avoid running jobs twice. .Pp Time changes of more than 3 hours are considered to be corrections to the clock or time zone, and the new time is used immediately. .Pp The options are as follows: .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Fl l Ar load_avg If the current load average is greater than .Ar load_avg , .Xr batch 1 jobs will not be run. The default value is 1.5. To allow .Xr batch 1 jobs to run regardless of the load, a value of 0.0 may be used. .It Fl n By default, .Nm will detach from the current tty and become a daemon. The .Fl n option disables this behavior and causes it to run in the foreground. .It Fl x Ar debug_flags If .Nm was compiled with debugging support, a number of debugging flags are available to show what .Nm is doing. The following flags may be specified: .Bl -tag -width Ds .It ext show extended information; used in conjunction with other debug flags to provide even more information .It sch print information related to scheduling jobs .It proc print information related to running processes .It pars print information related to parsing .Xr crontab 5 files .It load print when loading the databases .It misc show misc other debugging information .It test test mode; don't actually execute commands .El .Pp Multiple flags may be specified, separated by a comma .Pq So , Sc . Regardless of which flags were specified, the .Fl x flag will cause .Nm to stay in the foreground and not become a daemon. .El .Sh SIGNALS .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Dv SIGHUP causes .Nm to close and reopen its log file. This is useful in scripts which rotate and age log files. On .Ox this has no effect because .Nm cron logs via .Xr syslog 3 . .El .Sh FILES .Bl -tag -width "/var/cron/tabs/.sock" -compact .It Pa /etc/crontab system crontab file .It Pa /var/cron/atjobs directory containing .Xr at 1 jobs .It Pa /var/cron/log cron's log file .It Pa /var/cron/tabs directory containing individual crontab files .It Pa /var/cron/tabs/.sock used by .Xr crontab 1 to tell .Nm to check for crontab changes immediately .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr at 1 , .Xr crontab 1 , .Xr syslog 3 , .Xr crontab 5 .Sh AUTHORS .An Paul Vixie Aq vixie@isc.org .Sh CAVEATS All .Xr crontab 5 files must not be readable or writable by any user other than their owner, including .Pa /etc/crontab . In practice this means they should be mode 0600. This restriction is enforced automatically by .Xr crontab 1 but if .Pa /etc/crontab is used, the mode must be set manually on that file.