crontab error

Frank Elsner frank at moltke28.B.Shuttle.DE
Wed Feb 16 14:03:32 UTC 2011


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

For /etc/crontab this comment is crap, last line should read
# *  *  *  *  *  username  <command to be executed>

> 1 4 * * * /usr/bin/rsync -a /home/ /media/2GHJTCB4/backups/hda/home

1 4 * * * root bin/rsync -a /home/ /media/2GHJTCB4/backups/hda/home

should do the job.


--Frank Elsner


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