Can't edit crontab

[50Antero]

Hi !
I'm trying to change time definition in crontab with crontab -e. When I save the file and check it with crontab -l it's still the same.
I've used this crontab entry a couple of years now on this machine and on 10 others.
I have space in /var and I've restarted cron process a couple of times.
I'm thankful for any help received
Regards Andy

 

[Ogzilal]

Hi,

Did you care about some error message like this when you save your modified crontab (in this case, the change is not made ):

"/tmp/crontabaTDfaa" 62 lines, 2860 characters
140 23 * * 1-5 /outils/savedm.ksh 1>/dev/null 2>&1
crontab: error on previous line; number out of bounds.

 

[p5wizard]

Check out /var/adm/cron/log - if you'va made any error, it should be in there.

It would also be helpful if you post the crontab -e editing session - or just a few lines of it with what you are trying to do. Perhaps there is an illegal character somewhere in the text you're cutting&pasting... Or perhaps there is an illegal character / syntax error already in the crontab file...



HTH,

p5wizard

 

[CrystalWizard]

What version of AIX are you using?

 

[50Antero]

Hi !
Thanks for your tips. I do not have any errors in crontab log file and I don't get errors when saving the file either.
The only thing I'm doing is changing 15 to 45 (to start DB/2 backup half an hour later.
Best regards Andy

 

[p5wizard]

Does your crontabs directory /var/spool/cron/crontabs have the correct permissions

Also check the crontab file's permission...

And the crontab command should be u+s, g+s...

On my test box:
dir:
drwxrwx--- 2 bin cron 512 May 4 09:04 crontabs

files:
-rw-r--r-- 1 adm cron 2031 Sep 19 1997 adm
-rw------- 1 root cron 1768 May 4 09:04 root
-rw-r--r-- 1 sys cron 864 Sep 19 1997 sys
-rw-r--r-- 1 root cron 1133 Feb 12 2002 uucp

command:
-r-sr-sr-x 1 root cron 28518 Mar 8 2001 /usr/bin/crontab



HTH,

p5wizard

 

[CrystalWizard]

and are you root? if you su'd to root did you su - ? I don't consider using sudo as being root.

 

[alexhu]

try this instead of 'crontab -e'. Its what I use all the time and may help you find where the problem is

crontab -l > temp
vi temp
crontab temp

Alex

 

[costiles]

I always thought you had to submit the edited cron jobs - as in: # crontab /usr/spool/cron/crontabs/root - where root is the crontab file that you want to submit for change.

 

[KenCunningham]

No. As long as you do as Alexhu suggests as root (or whatever user you're doing it as), it will write to the correct crontab.

 

[jaymzr]

on my fedora desktop I have the same problem. If you notice in the bash window the cron is actually given a temp file handle. cron.532345 etc. if you do a simple esc then w it will save your changes to that temp file.

instead of saving with wq! or w or what ever, use ZZ that will save the cron to the original crontab not the temp file location.

 

[p5wizard]

That's exactly how it should work

crontab -e does a crontab -l to a temp file, starts an editing session, so you can modify that temp file, then after finishing the editing session, crontab <temp file> is run to install the modified crontab contents in /var/spool/cron/crontabs/<username>...

It really doesn't matter how/when you save the temp file...

But as Alexhu suggested, you might want to break the crontab -e into its steps and see if somewhere along the line you get an error message...

HTH,

p5wizard