laptops and cron maintenance

[Miloslav Trmac]

Hello,
On Tue, Apr 19, 2005 at 10:17:53AM +0000, Michael A. Peters wrote:
> In fc4t2 the updatedb cron job was turned off by default.
> In part for laptop users.
AFAIK it was turned off because "desktop users" don't use locate,
laptop users were not the primary reason.  (Yes, my primary computer
is a laptop - but I have slocate enabled anyway, so my personal
convenience couldn't be the reason either.)

> Suppose instead of turning certain cron jobs off, a configuration  
> allowed one to specify times when they are not allowed to run.
> 
> IE configure updatedb so that it is not allowed to run between 0700 and  
> 1800 (user configurable)
The jobs are scheduled to run at 4 a.m.; if they are started via anacron,
it means that the computer is switched on only when it is used.  That
means that _any_ time is inconvenient, as Ron Yorston pointed out. 
(You mean I can't wait for the computer when programming at work, but I
can wait for it when playing Tuxracer in the evening? :))

> Also, it shouldn't be too difficult for the cron script to check and  
> see if the laptop is on battery, and just not run certain scripts (like  
> updatedb) if the laptop is on battery.
For the last few days (since on_ac_power handles ACPI and actually works)
it's not difficult; but you also have to make sure the job will get run
after the computer is connected to AC.
	Mirek