binary not executed from crontab

[Pat Peter]

Hi,

I have a binary which when tried to execute from the crontab does not get executed. But the same binary gets executed when done manually.

Can anyone please let me know what could be the problem.

Thanks,
Pat

[Rick Garland]

Is the crontab entry for the binary fully PATHed?

The crontab has a minimal environment. There is no PATH. You must supply the full PATH to the command you wish to have executed in the crontab.

[A. Clay Stephenson]

In almost every case that is a problem with the environment. Cron's environment is intentionally very sparse. You may need to create a wrapper script that sets and exports and needed environment variables, including PATH, before executing your binary. The other problem you may have is that your executable expects stdin (or stdout) to be a tty (terminal) device which is not the case under cron.

[Mel Burslan]

what error messages are you getting when this job fails ?

[Victor BERRIDGE]

Hi,
You may not have the PATH set for it...

Add the PATH variable to your binary in a shell script and call your binary from it also
then use the shell script in your crontab file
or use the fullpath to your binary in the cronfile

All the best
Victor

[Pat Peter]

The PATH is set correct. The same crontab entry use to work sometimes back but the server crashed once and after that only one particular executable is not getting executed properly. All the other executables are working fine.

Thanks,
Pat

[TwoProc]

I've seen that. Loosen up the directory permissions all along the path until you see it working. Fix the problem and tighten the permissions back down all along the way to your executable.

[Geoff Wild]

You say the PATH is correct?

Try this in cron:

echo $PATH; /your/binary >/tmp/yourbinary.cronlog 2>&1

Check the log for errors...

Rgds..Geoff

[Pat Peter]

Can anyone please tell me where do I look for the cronlogs in HP UX-10.20

Thanks,
Pat

[Rick Garland]

/var/adm/cron/log

[Geoff Wild]

Sorry - the log I meant was if you run it the way I suggest - any errors will be in /tmp/yourbinary.cronlog

Rgds...Geoff

[Carles Viaplana]

I had same problem some time ago and it was due our executable loads stdin/stdout libraries without use them.

Check source code if you load stdin/stdout libraries. Set as comment and try.

Regards,

Carles