My chmod is not working. 1

[pmking]

Hello

Below is a snipit of shell script and the process works, but was wondering the chmod part is not working.

if test ! -f /var/logs/collect$month.log
then
touch /var/logs/collect$month.log
chmod 662 /var/logs/collect$month.log
chown userid:usergroup /var/logs/collect$month.log

Also..
I would like to have the script output the each line to my screen. How do I do that, so if I run the scrip, then what do I need to do so the output is on my screen?

Thanks..

 

[PHV]

script output the each line to my screen
set -x
# rest of script here

the chmod part is not working
any error message ? unexpected result ?
Anyway, giving write permission but not read is quite unusual ...

BTW: 662 = -rw-rw--w-

Hope This Helps, PH.
Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at FAQ219-2884 or FAQ181-2886

 

[pmking]

So sorry..

I should have put more info.

No error message. The unexpected result is that my /var/logs/collect$month.log file is not chaning permissions, thus not changing owner, which is the next line.

Could it be that I am using write without read, would my current results be that the chmod doesn't work?

Thanks so much and again, sorry for the lack of info in my first post..

 

[PHV]

Have you tried to put set -x before your code to discover what is really executed ?

BTW, where is the fi instruction ?

Hope This Helps, PH.
Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at FAQ219-2884 or FAQ181-2886

 

[pmking]

Here is the part of the script in full. The fi is there..

if test ! -f /var/best1_logs/collect$month.log
then
touch /var/logs/collect$month.log
chmod 662 /var/logs/collect$month.log
chown ligv:support /var/logs/collect$month.log
fi

I am having issues getting my set -x to work, this is what I am doing.

-I cd over to the dir where the script resides.
-I then type set -x <and hit enter>
-I now type in my file name that runs my script.

Am I doing the set -x correctly?

 

[pmking]

Here is the correct verion, apparently I have too much info on a directory path from my last post. I will take my time now.. sorry, I just feel rushed from my job


if test ! -f /var/logs/collect$month.log
then
touch /var/logs/collect$month.log
chmod 662 /var/logs/collect$month.log
chown ligv:support /var/logs/collect$month.log
fi

But the set -x question still stands...

 

[PHV]

Am I doing the set -x correctly
I don't think so.
Put this instruction in the script:
...
set -x
if test ! -f ...

Hope This Helps, PH.
Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at FAQ219-2884 or FAQ181-2886

 

[pmking]

I will try this tomorrow morning, the admins are going to reboot the server now (maintenance time), so I won't be able to try this until tomorrow..

I will keep you posted..
Thanks again PHV....

 

[columb]

Some hints about debugging
[ol]
[li]As PHV says, use the -x switch. You can do this by
[ol]
[li]Adding the line 'set -x' to your script[/li]
[li]running ksh -x myscript[/li]
[/ol]
[/li]
[li]In a script like yours check the status of the file after every step. Add the line 'ls -l /var/logs/collect$month.log' after each step and you can see what's changing. You can comment them out when the debugging is done[/li]
[li]Stop typos by using variables. You're having to type /var/logs/collect$month.log again and again. If you used logfile=/var/logs/collect$month.log at the top then you would only have to type logfile[/li]
[li]This is style, rather than debugging, but if you indent your if statements it's easier to see where you are[/li]
[/ol]
Putting this all together you have

set -x
logfile=/var/logs/collect$month.log
if test ! -f $logfile
then
  touch $logfile
  ls -l $logfile
  chmod 662 $logfile
  ls -l $logfile
  chown ligv:support $logfile
  ls -l $logfile
fi

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy

 

[pmking]

Thank you for you help and suggestions..

It is working finally, but I am getting a date range issue per another part of the script.. My question to you is how can I add 2 minutes to current server time.

For example:

'date' is a variable in the script, but what I would like to do is add 2 minutes to the date.

Why?

Because the script will be menu driven on the front end, and the 'date' option will allow an operator to schedule a process via this menu script, they just hit enter when prompted for a date, and the date will show 'current' time.

Issue:

Once the operator answers the prompts via this menu driven script, and after he chooses current time via the 'date' perameter by pressing <enter> current date is used. but by the time the other 4 questions are answerd, let say the time is 12:00, and by the time he completes the menu and it is 12:01. An error message states that 'you can't schedule a process in the past'.

Thought of a solution:

Add 2 minutes to the 'date' variable. How do I add 120 seconds to current date?

 

[columb]

But what if they take three minutes, four?
Why not set the date to 'NOW' so that later on, just before you run the scheduler you have

if [ "$date" = "NOW" ]
then
  date=$(date)
fi

If you really have to add seconds to the date you need somthing like perl. If you can go to hours then PHV has written this faq80-4800

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy

 

[pmking]

Thank you columb,

It will not take any longer than 2 minutes, per our study, the reason is, if the user runs the script at 12:00:56, and by the time the user gets to the end of the menu to run the script, the time is now 12:01:15. I have noticed this error only when the minute hand changes, so I am confident that 2 minutes will sufice.

Any other suggestions beyond the if statement columb suggested?

Thanks a million..

 

[p5wizard]

What if the operator gets a phone call at the third question out of four, and resumes answering the questions after he/she finishes the phonecall - some 5 minutes further along...

Or don't they have to answer the phone when they are in the middle of something ;-)?


HTH,

p5wizard

 

[KenCunningham]

Have to say I agree with columb and p5wizard. Columb's suggestion cuts out any uncertainty.

 

[ProbablyDown]

Or have them enter the date at the very end?