[arch-general] An empty /etc/crontab file maybe needed bo be add in to package filesystem.

[Auguste Pop]

On Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 6:15 PM, Auguste Pop <auguste at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 2:00 AM, Leonid Isaev <lisaev at umail.iu.edu> wrote:
>> On Sun, 19 Feb 2012 07:01:52 +0800
>> 郑文辉(Techlive Zheng) <techlivezheng at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> 2012/2/19 郑文辉(Techlive Zheng) <techlivezheng at gmail.com>:
>>> > I see, I just upgraded to 1.4.8 on 14 Feb 2012, The log must be
>>> > generated by an former version of cronie. Now it seems all gone, and I
>>> > can't provid the spamed log because I have cleaned them up 2 days ago.
>>> >
>>> > Let's see, if there are spams again, I will post here.
>>> >
>>> > 2012/2/19 Leonid Isaev <lisaev at umail.iu.edu>:
>>> >> On Sat, 18 Feb 2012 15:26:46 +0800
>>> >> 郑文辉(Techlive Zheng) <techlivezheng at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >>
>>> >>> 2012/2/18 Heiko Baums <lists at baums-on-web.de>:
>>> >>> > Am Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:25:54 +0800
>>> >>> > schrieb 郑文辉(Techlive Zheng) <techlivezheng at gmail.com>:
>>> >>> >
>>> >>> >> Due to cronie doesn't contain an /etc/crontab anymore, there are losts
>>> >>> >> of msgs of missing crontab as shown below in errors.log.
>>> >>> >>
>>> >>> >> > /usr/sbin/crond[1236]: (root) CAN'T OPEN (/etc/crontab): No such
>>> >>> >> > file or directory
>>> >>> >
>>> >>> > Such an empty /etc/crontab would belong into the package cronie and not
>>> >>> > into the package filesystem. It's cronie specific since fcron, which I
>>> >>> > use, doesn't need and provide one. The corresponding, but also not
>>> >>> > necessary file for fcron would be /etc/fcrontab. And I'm not sure if
>>> >>> > such an empty /etc/crontab would affect fcron.
>>> >>> >
>>> >>> > If cronie doesn't provide an empty /etc/crontab and doesn't run
>>> >>> > without it, it is a bug in cronie.
>>> >>> >
>>> >>> > Heiko
>>> >>>
>>> >>> It runs well,but just spam the error.log and crond.log
>>> >>> without /etc/crontab.
>>> >>
>>> >> Since 1.4.8 cronie doesn't need /etc/crontab... Can you show relevant
>>> >> piece of /var/log/crond.log?
>>> >>
>>> >> --
>>> >> Leonid Isaev
>>> >> GnuPG key ID: 164B5A6D
>>> >> Key fingerprint: C0DF 20D0 C075 C3F1 E1BE  775A A7AE F6CB 164B 5A6D
>>>
>>> Still have the problem:
>>>
>>> Feb 19 06:31:01 vbox02 /usr/sbin/crond[8394]: (root) CAN'T OPEN
>>> (/etc/crontab): No such file or directory
>>> Feb 19 06:32:01 vbox02 /usr/sbin/crond[8394]: (root) CAN'T OPEN
>>> (/etc/crontab): No such file or directory
>>
>> This is odd... you must have something in /var/spool/cron. Otherwise please
>> provide more info because your problem is not easily reproducible.
>>
>> --
>> Leonid Isaev
>> GnuPG key ID: 164B5A6D
>> Key fingerprint: C0DF 20D0 C075 C3F1 E1BE  775A A7AE F6CB 164B 5A6D
>
> i have the same problem. i do have a file in /var/spool/cron/, because
> i have some user cron jobs to do.
>
> here's some log from /var/log/crond.log
>
> Mar 18 18:04:30 pop crontab[8708]: (pop) BEGIN EDIT (pop)
> Mar 18 18:04:32 pop crontab[8708]: (pop) REPLACE (pop)
> Mar 18 18:04:32 pop crontab[8708]: (pop) END EDIT (pop)
> Mar 18 18:05:01 pop /usr/sbin/crond[8619]: (root) CAN'T OPEN
> (/etc/crontab): No such file or directory
> Mar 18 18:05:01 pop /usr/sbin/crond[8619]: (pop) RELOAD (/var/spool/cron/pop)

after some further test, it seems the error only occurs after crontab -e.
i think this may be an upstream bug, if upstream says that
/etc/crontab is not indispensable.
anyway, showing one line of missing file in log is not a big deal. we
don't constantly modify our crontab.

best regards,