[comp.unix.xenix] XENIX 2.3.2 and cron

fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) (07/13/89)

On a XENIX 386 Release 2.3.2 system we have a situation where
the cron process is started but it never executes.  If you kill it
and start another one, all is well.

I remember a discussion of this some time ago but as I remember the
case was that if there was nothing to schedule for a long time it
would never run.  We have stuff scheduled at least every half hour.

Any ideas?

richard@berner.uucp (r) (07/14/89)

In article <104@ssc.UUCP> fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) writes:
>On a XENIX 386 Release 2.3.2 system we have a situation where
>the cron process is started but it never executes.  If you kill it
>and start another one, all is well.
>
>I remember a discussion of this some time ago but as I remember the
>case was that if there was nothing to schedule for a long time it
>would never run.  We have stuff scheduled at least every half hour.
>
>Any ideas?

I have had that same problem here on our 2.3.2 machine as well ever
since we upgraded to 2.3.2.  When we reboot the machine, cron must
be killed and restarted every time, or it will just sit in memory
and never execute. It's just one of those things I have learned to
live with, but it is still a pain.  

richard@berner.uucp (r) (07/14/89)

In article <1989Jul14.142929.22430@berner.uucp> richard@berner.UUCP (Richard Greenall) writes:
>In article <104@ssc.UUCP> fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) writes:
>>On a XENIX 386 Release 2.3.2 system we have a situation where
>>the cron process is started but it never executes.  If you kill it
>>and start another one, all is well.
>>
>>I remember a discussion of this some time ago but as I remember the
>>case was that if there was nothing to schedule for a long time it
>>would never run.  We have stuff scheduled at least every half hour.
>>
>>Any ideas?
>
>I have had that same problem here on our 2.3.2 machine as well ever
>since we upgraded to 2.3.2.  When we reboot the machine, cron must
>be killed and restarted every time, or it will just sit in memory
>and never execute. It's just one of those things I have learned to
>live with, but it is still a pain.  
>

Well, I just got off the phone with SCO support talking about this
problem, and they are going to send me a fix disk ASAP via courier.
Apparently there are still some bugs in the 2.3.2 version of cron.
I will find out what the fix disk number is, and if it will be generally
available on the SCO bullitin board. (And needless to say, if the
fix actually works (-: )

						rich

fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) (07/16/89)

In article <1989Jul14.142929.22430@berner.uucp>, richard@berner.uucp (r) writes:
> In article <104@ssc.UUCP> fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) writes:
> >On a XENIX 386 Release 2.3.2 system we have a situation where
> >the cron process is started but it never executes.  If you kill it
> >and start another one, all is well.
> 
> I have had that same problem here on our 2.3.2 machine as well ever
...

I suppose if I post the question I should also post the answer.
We moved /usr/spool to a mountable filesystem.  Cron is started in
/etc/rc.d/2/ and file systems are mounted in /etc/rc.d/3/
And, of course, cron mucks with this /usr/spool/cron.



-- 
Phil Hughes, SSC, Inc. P.O. Box 55549, Seattle, WA 98155  (206)FOR-UNIX
    amc-gw!ssc!fyl or uunet!pilchuck!ssc!fyl or attmail!ssc!fyl

root@mjbtn.MFEE.TN.US (Mark J. Bailey) (07/16/89)

In article <1989Jul14.142929.22430@berner.uucp>, richard@berner.uucp (r) writes:
> In article <104@ssc.UUCP> fyl@ssc.UUCP (Phil Hughes) writes:
> >On a XENIX 386 Release 2.3.2 system we have a situation where
> >the cron process is started but it never executes.  If you kill it
> >and start another one, all is well.
> >
> >I remember a discussion of this some time ago but as I remember the
> >case was that if there was nothing to schedule for a long time it
> >would never run.  We have stuff scheduled at least every half hour.
> >
> >Any ideas?
> 
> I have had that same problem here on our 2.3.2 machine as well ever
> since we upgraded to 2.3.2.  When we reboot the machine, cron must
> be killed and restarted every time, or it will just sit in memory
> and never execute. It's just one of those things I have learned to
> live with, but it is still a pain.  

My cron has to be killed and restarted also!  But in my case, it is calling
up cron tables from many months ago!!!  No before anyone assumes that I
don't know what I am doing...:-)...I DO know how to use the crontab command
and have done so strictly according to the man page from cron(C).  The
funny thing is that up until a few months ago, when the problem started,
I had *NEVER* used the crontab command, and had *NEVER* had a lick of
trouble!  I used to edit the /usr/spool/cron/crontabs/* files directly,
save the changes, then kill cron and restart.  At boot time, cron came up 
without a hitch!  This is on Xenix 2.3.1 which I installed last October.
As I said, it was when I first used the crontab command that I noticed
my troubles begin.  Now, Iseem to be stuck with it.  I quit using the
crontab command and went back to the "old" way.  Still my boot up cron
process was loading an image of the tables from months ago.  I recently
went back to the crontab command, and still it boots with months old
tables.  I am curious about cron's internal tables.  Where are they?
Could that /usr/lib/cron/FIFO have something to do with it?  I have
scanned my entire filesystem looking for stray crontab files.  I have
purged all the crontab tables and used crontab to reenter them fresh!
Still no luck!  It boots with a cron image from way back.  If I kill 
the boot cron process (22 or 24) and restart, it takes off with all the
current tables!

I can't figure this one!  Please, someone, SCO ... HELP! :-()

(Sorry for this surge of emotion, but I can't get anywhere with it!)

Thanks,

Mark.

-- 
Mark J. Bailey                                    "Ya'll com bak naw, ya hear!"
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