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System Crontab or Root Crontab
The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are InAre there disadvantages/consequences to adding scheduled tasks directly to /etc/crontab instead of using the crontab command?What is the difference between using crontab -e and /etc/crontabExecute script at crontabWays to execute shell command as root?How do I add an entry to my crontab?Running program as root without using sudo with normal user accountHow to autostart a background program by a non-root user?Crontab does not run?OpenSUSE disabled root login (no root psswd set) >> yast, config issuesCrontab: Why won't it execute scriptnotify-send from root cronAdding/removing jobs in Debian crontab files?Differences between `/etc/crontab`, files under `/etc/cron.d/` and `/var/spool/cron/crontabs/root`?
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System crontab:
/etc/crontab
Root crontab:
sudo crontab -u root -e
Which way is preferred? As they all run tasks within administration privilege.
sudo cron root
asked May 3 '14 at 22:02
PeiPei
216148
add a comment |
System crontab:
/etc/crontab
Root crontab:
sudo crontab -u root -e
Which way is preferred? As they all run tasks within administration privilege.
sudo cron root
asked May 3 '14 at 22:02
PeiPei
216148
add a comment |
System crontab:
/etc/crontab
Root crontab:
sudo crontab -u root -e
Which way is preferred? As they all run tasks within administration privilege.
sudo cron root
asked May 3 '14 at 22:02
PeiPei
216148
System crontab:
/etc/crontab
Root crontab:
sudo crontab -u root -e
Which way is preferred? As they all run tasks within administration privilege.
sudo cron root
sudo cron root
asked May 3 '14 at 22:02
PeiPei
216148
asked May 3 '14 at 22:02
PeiPei
216148
asked May 3 '14 at 22:02
PeiPei
216148
asked May 3 '14 at 22:02
PeiPei
216148
asked May 3 '14 at 22:02
PeiPei
216148
216148
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
/etc/crontab is the system wide crontab.
The format of /etc/crontab is like this:
# m h dom mon dow user command
* * * * * someuser echo 'foo'
while crontab -e is per user, it's worth mentioning with no -u argument the crontab command goes to the current users crontab. You can do crontab -e -u <username> to edit a specific users crontab.
Notice in a per user crontab there is no 'user' field.
# m h dom mon dow command
* * * * * echo 'foo'
An aspect of crontabs that may be confusing is that root also has its own crontab. e.g. crontab -e -u root will not edit /etc/crontab See Configuring cron.
In Linux distros, per user crontabs are typically stored in: /var/spool/crontabs/<username>
References
https://superuser.com/questions/290093/difference-between-etc-crontab-and-crontab-e
edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:18
Community♦
1
answered May 3 '14 at 22:12
RameshRamesh
24k34105188
2
As Congiruring cron says: there is usually no need to create a user crontab for root. Is that true? I mean the standard way is to edit the /etc/crontab, am I right?
– Pei
May 3 '14 at 22:32
2
There is no "standard" way, thus you can have both files. I usually edit root's crontab and avoit/etc/crontabjust becaused I am used tocrontab -e
– phoops
May 3 '14 at 22:35
add a comment |
/etc/cron.d (and its siblings cron.daily/weekly/monthly) is preferred for all system crontabs. You shouldn't need to touch /etc/crontab.
It's essential to separate cron entries in multiple files, based on their functionality if you are planing to manage or automate things. Files under /etc/cron.d can be easily managed by packages or configuration management tools like puppet and chef. Root's crontab OTOH is practically un-maintenable by anything other than humans.
So in short, for system stuff you can use /etc/cron.*. If there's something you would like the root user to do then use root's crontab. /etc/crontab should be left untouched and managed by a package.
answered May 3 '14 at 22:36
V13V13
2,877713
add a comment |
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
/etc/crontab is the system wide crontab.
The format of /etc/crontab is like this:
# m h dom mon dow user command
* * * * * someuser echo 'foo'
while crontab -e is per user, it's worth mentioning with no -u argument the crontab command goes to the current users crontab. You can do crontab -e -u <username> to edit a specific users crontab.
Notice in a per user crontab there is no 'user' field.
# m h dom mon dow command
* * * * * echo 'foo'
An aspect of crontabs that may be confusing is that root also has its own crontab. e.g. crontab -e -u root will not edit /etc/crontab See Configuring cron.
In Linux distros, per user crontabs are typically stored in: /var/spool/crontabs/<username>
References
https://superuser.com/questions/290093/difference-between-etc-crontab-and-crontab-e
edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:18
Community♦
1
answered May 3 '14 at 22:12
RameshRamesh
24k34105188
2
As Congiruring cron says: there is usually no need to create a user crontab for root. Is that true? I mean the standard way is to edit the /etc/crontab, am I right?
– Pei
May 3 '14 at 22:32
2
There is no "standard" way, thus you can have both files. I usually edit root's crontab and avoit/etc/crontabjust becaused I am used tocrontab -e
– phoops
May 3 '14 at 22:35
add a comment |
/etc/crontab is the system wide crontab.
The format of /etc/crontab is like this:
# m h dom mon dow user command
* * * * * someuser echo 'foo'
while crontab -e is per user, it's worth mentioning with no -u argument the crontab command goes to the current users crontab. You can do crontab -e -u <username> to edit a specific users crontab.
Notice in a per user crontab there is no 'user' field.
# m h dom mon dow command
* * * * * echo 'foo'
An aspect of crontabs that may be confusing is that root also has its own crontab. e.g. crontab -e -u root will not edit /etc/crontab See Configuring cron.
In Linux distros, per user crontabs are typically stored in: /var/spool/crontabs/<username>
References
https://superuser.com/questions/290093/difference-between-etc-crontab-and-crontab-e
edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:18
Community♦
1
answered May 3 '14 at 22:12
RameshRamesh
24k34105188
2
As Congiruring cron says: there is usually no need to create a user crontab for root. Is that true? I mean the standard way is to edit the /etc/crontab, am I right?
– Pei
May 3 '14 at 22:32
2
There is no "standard" way, thus you can have both files. I usually edit root's crontab and avoit/etc/crontabjust becaused I am used tocrontab -e
– phoops
May 3 '14 at 22:35
add a comment |
/etc/crontab is the system wide crontab.
The format of /etc/crontab is like this:
# m h dom mon dow user command
* * * * * someuser echo 'foo'
while crontab -e is per user, it's worth mentioning with no -u argument the crontab command goes to the current users crontab. You can do crontab -e -u <username> to edit a specific users crontab.
Notice in a per user crontab there is no 'user' field.
# m h dom mon dow command
* * * * * echo 'foo'
An aspect of crontabs that may be confusing is that root also has its own crontab. e.g. crontab -e -u root will not edit /etc/crontab See Configuring cron.
In Linux distros, per user crontabs are typically stored in: /var/spool/crontabs/<username>
References
https://superuser.com/questions/290093/difference-between-etc-crontab-and-crontab-e
edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:18
Community♦
1
answered May 3 '14 at 22:12
RameshRamesh
24k34105188
/etc/crontab is the system wide crontab.
The format of /etc/crontab is like this:
# m h dom mon dow user command
* * * * * someuser echo 'foo'
while crontab -e is per user, it's worth mentioning with no -u argument the crontab command goes to the current users crontab. You can do crontab -e -u <username> to edit a specific users crontab.
Notice in a per user crontab there is no 'user' field.
# m h dom mon dow command
* * * * * echo 'foo'
An aspect of crontabs that may be confusing is that root also has its own crontab. e.g. crontab -e -u root will not edit /etc/crontab See Configuring cron.
In Linux distros, per user crontabs are typically stored in: /var/spool/crontabs/<username>
References
https://superuser.com/questions/290093/difference-between-etc-crontab-and-crontab-e
edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:18
Community♦
1
answered May 3 '14 at 22:12
RameshRamesh
24k34105188
edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:18
Community♦
1
edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:18
Community♦
1
edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:18
Community♦
1
1
answered May 3 '14 at 22:12
RameshRamesh
24k34105188
answered May 3 '14 at 22:12
RameshRamesh
24k34105188
answered May 3 '14 at 22:12
RameshRamesh
24k34105188
24k34105188
2
As Congiruring cron says: there is usually no need to create a user crontab for root. Is that true? I mean the standard way is to edit the /etc/crontab, am I right?
– Pei
May 3 '14 at 22:32
2
There is no "standard" way, thus you can have both files. I usually edit root's crontab and avoit/etc/crontabjust becaused I am used tocrontab -e
– phoops
May 3 '14 at 22:35
add a comment |
2
As Congiruring cron says: there is usually no need to create a user crontab for root. Is that true? I mean the standard way is to edit the /etc/crontab, am I right?
– Pei
May 3 '14 at 22:32
2
There is no "standard" way, thus you can have both files. I usually edit root's crontab and avoit/etc/crontabjust becaused I am used tocrontab -e
– phoops
May 3 '14 at 22:35
2
2
As Congiruring cron says: there is usually no need to create a user crontab for root. Is that true? I mean the standard way is to edit the /etc/crontab, am I right?
– Pei
May 3 '14 at 22:32
As Congiruring cron says: there is usually no need to create a user crontab for root. Is that true? I mean the standard way is to edit the /etc/crontab, am I right?
– Pei
May 3 '14 at 22:32
2
2
There is no "standard" way, thus you can have both files. I usually edit root's crontab and avoit
/etc/crontab just becaused I am used to crontab -e– phoops
May 3 '14 at 22:35
There is no "standard" way, thus you can have both files. I usually edit root's crontab and avoit
/etc/crontab just becaused I am used to crontab -e– phoops
May 3 '14 at 22:35
add a comment |
/etc/cron.d (and its siblings cron.daily/weekly/monthly) is preferred for all system crontabs. You shouldn't need to touch /etc/crontab.
It's essential to separate cron entries in multiple files, based on their functionality if you are planing to manage or automate things. Files under /etc/cron.d can be easily managed by packages or configuration management tools like puppet and chef. Root's crontab OTOH is practically un-maintenable by anything other than humans.
So in short, for system stuff you can use /etc/cron.*. If there's something you would like the root user to do then use root's crontab. /etc/crontab should be left untouched and managed by a package.
answered May 3 '14 at 22:36
V13V13
2,877713
add a comment |
/etc/cron.d (and its siblings cron.daily/weekly/monthly) is preferred for all system crontabs. You shouldn't need to touch /etc/crontab.
It's essential to separate cron entries in multiple files, based on their functionality if you are planing to manage or automate things. Files under /etc/cron.d can be easily managed by packages or configuration management tools like puppet and chef. Root's crontab OTOH is practically un-maintenable by anything other than humans.
So in short, for system stuff you can use /etc/cron.*. If there's something you would like the root user to do then use root's crontab. /etc/crontab should be left untouched and managed by a package.
answered May 3 '14 at 22:36
V13V13
2,877713
add a comment |
/etc/cron.d (and its siblings cron.daily/weekly/monthly) is preferred for all system crontabs. You shouldn't need to touch /etc/crontab.
It's essential to separate cron entries in multiple files, based on their functionality if you are planing to manage or automate things. Files under /etc/cron.d can be easily managed by packages or configuration management tools like puppet and chef. Root's crontab OTOH is practically un-maintenable by anything other than humans.
So in short, for system stuff you can use /etc/cron.*. If there's something you would like the root user to do then use root's crontab. /etc/crontab should be left untouched and managed by a package.
answered May 3 '14 at 22:36
V13V13
2,877713
/etc/cron.d (and its siblings cron.daily/weekly/monthly) is preferred for all system crontabs. You shouldn't need to touch /etc/crontab.
It's essential to separate cron entries in multiple files, based on their functionality if you are planing to manage or automate things. Files under /etc/cron.d can be easily managed by packages or configuration management tools like puppet and chef. Root's crontab OTOH is practically un-maintenable by anything other than humans.
So in short, for system stuff you can use /etc/cron.*. If there's something you would like the root user to do then use root's crontab. /etc/crontab should be left untouched and managed by a package.
answered May 3 '14 at 22:36
V13V13
2,877713
edited Apr 7 at 13:46
answered May 3 '14 at 22:36
V13V13
2,877713
answered May 3 '14 at 22:36
V13V13
2,877713
answered May 3 '14 at 22:36
V13V13
2,877713
2,877713
add a comment |
add a comment |
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