crontab error

[Robert Moskowitz]

On 02/16/2011 08:43 AM, Tom Horsley wrote:
> On Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:33:30 -0500
> Robert Moskowitz wrote:
>
>> This is on F12.
>>
>> When I edit /etc/crontab (SUed as root, using VI) I see the following in
>> /var/log/cron after I save crontab:
>>
>> Feb 16 00:39:02 hda crond[1541]: (*system*) RELOAD (/etc/crontab)
>> Feb 16 00:39:02 hda crond[1541]: (CRON) bad username (/etc/crontab)
>>
>> My crontab content is:
>>
>> # cat crontab
>> SHELL=/bin/bash
>> PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
>> MAILTO=root
>> HOME=/
>>
>> # For details see man 4 crontabs
>>
>> # Example of job definition:
>> # .---------------- minute (0 - 59)
>> # |  .------------- hour (0 - 23)
>> # |  |  .---------- day of month (1 - 31)
>> # |  |  |  .------- month (1 - 12) OR jan,feb,mar,apr ...
>> # |  |  |  |  .---- day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday=0 or 7) OR
>> sun,mon,tue,wed,thu,fri,sat
>> # |  |  |  |  |
>> # *  *  *  *  *  command to be executed
>> 1 4 * * * /usr/bin/rsync -a /home/ /media/2GHJTCB4/backups/hda/home
> The /etc/crontab file is slightly different format than a normal
> per-user crontab file. It has to have a user name added before the
> command, so that should be:
>
> 1 4 * * * root /usr/bin/rsync -a /home/ /media/2GHJTCB4/backups/hda/home
>
> If you read the various crontab man pages about 15 times you can
> almost discover this is documented :-).

OH, yes, NOW I remember this from the LAST time I did this (I am 
rebuilding a system that lost its harddrive without proper backups)...

Thanks all.