Kcron doesn't work

[borg]

I just wanted to configure Kcron task scheduler so that it would start Azureus at a cetain time. But it doesn't seem to be doing anything.

I right clicked on tasks, clicked on new. Selected everyday & chose the time when I want to run azureus, saved this config, but cron doesn't seem to be launching the program at all. Whats up with this thing?. The program launches perfectly when I right click on it & choose run now . So there isn't any issue with the path. Any suggestions?.


I am using Kubuntu 6.10

 

[praka123]

check ur /etc/crontab for the entries u made in kcron.
another utility which i feel is better is gnome-schedule,which u can apt-get install.

 

[borg]

These are the contents of crontab-

# /etc/crontab: system-wide crontab
# Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the `crontab'
# command to install the new version when you edit this file.
# This file also has a username field, that none of the other crontabs do.

SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

# m h dom mon dow user command
17 * * * * root run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly
25 6 * * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily
47 6 * * 7 root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly
52 6 1 * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || run-parts --report /etc/cron.monthly
#

I can't make any sense of it. No mention of azureus anywhere.

I don't know why this has to be so painful. Task scheduling is such a simple thing.

 

[praka123]

perhaps kcron's got some other places for config files for cron.try reading man kcron or its help tab or /usr/share/doc/kde? or kcron/ for more info.(not a kde user )
even configuring cron manually is also not that tough yaar.try configuring using crontab -e command.resources are lot available and you will learn something good also na?
crontab -l will list ur cron processes
*reallylinux.com/docs/basiccron.shtml
*www.scrounge.org/linux/cron.html
ps:remember you should give the proper path for the executables in crontab file for eg;azureus:

~$whereis  azureus
azureus: [B]/usr/bin/azureus[/B] /usr/X11R6/bin/azureus /usr/bin/X11/azureus /usr/share/man/man1/azureus.1.gz

 

[borg]

hmmm. Thanks for your help, but is this no way of just getting things done in Linux?.

Learning is not a bad thing, but what if I just want to get my work done?.
Task scheduling is such a basic operation & that Linux requires me to go type some obscure commands, in the command line, to get this simple task done is disappointing to say the least. This is frustrating & disappointing.

 

[praka123]

also make sure crond started and running

~$ps   ax |grep crond

Now sorry for that -but Yaar am trying to help, I use only GNOME DE and are happy with gnome-schedule app,if u r in kde also u can apt-get install gnome-schedule.else u can wait for someone using kde and kcron;dont panic!
and even a google linux search can get u a clue na?
i found below one for kcron:
*linux-blog.org/index.php?/archives/112-Schedule-Tasks-in-Linux-with-Ease-Kcron.html

@eddie:can help you !

 

[unni]

I am using Mandriva 2007, and in my system, if I tell KCron to start a program at a certain time, nothing happens. After some searching, I found out the problem. Append the following in the Program field before the actual command: DISPLAY=unix:0 . For example, to start xmms - DISPLAY=unix:0 xmms or DISPLAY=unix:0 /usr/bin/xmms. Also, when you are running KCron for the first time as a normal user, your name should be present in the cron.allow file. The file path is /etc/cron.allow. If the file is not there, launch terminal, su, type kedit /etc/cron.allow and add your username and save it. Now run KCron, and it will work properly.This DISPLAY=unix:0 entry is to be added only for those programs having GUI. The cron file for the user will be at /var/spool/cron/user. This information is true for Mandriva. I don't about other distros. I hope this will be useful to you in case you haven't found out what's wrong yet.

Since KCron allows scheduling only in multiples of 5 minutes, if you want to set an in between time such as 02:07 am, you will have to use crontab -e as mentioned above.

If you type mail in a terminal, you can see messages send by cron. It will give you clues about what went wrong in case things don't work for you still.