From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: Ludovic =?UTF-8?Q?Court=C3=A8s?= <ludo@gnu.org>
Subject: bug#36430: mcron would benefit from a better way to test jobs
Date: Sun, 07 Jul 2019 16:24:26 +0200
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References: <B0BF7C44-23B2-42D7-8ACD-86E55DBDCE7D@vllmrt.net>
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In-Reply-To: <B0BF7C44-23B2-42D7-8ACD-86E55DBDCE7D@vllmrt.net> (Robert
 Vollmert's message of "Sat, 29 Jun 2019 08:37:29 +0200")
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To: Robert Vollmert <rob@vllmrt.net>
Cc: 36430@debbugs.gnu.org

Hi Robert,

Robert Vollmert <rob@vllmrt.net> skribis:

> Defined a mcron job in config.scm scheduled to run once a day,
> with a scheme expression. How do I test this?
>
> herd schedule mcron lists the job as merely a =E2=80=9CLambda expression=
=E2=80=9D.
> I learned how to give it a descriptive name, but still there=E2=80=99s
> no script linked that I can run by hand.

Commit 89fdd9ee0cc8817283449b33a8c1a2604c575c7e changes the rottlog job
in a simple way so we see an actual command rather than =E2=80=9CLambda
expression=E2=80=9D.  I would recommend using this style to improve
transparency.

> One major improvement would be to have:
>
> 1. `herd schedule mcron` lists jobs with some kind of id
> 2. `herd execute mcron <id>` runs the specific mcron job
>
> Or perhaps, any mcron job could be turned into a simple argument-less
> guile or shell script that=E2=80=99s shown in the schedule listing?

The commit I=E2=80=99m referring to above does exactly that.

Perhaps as a first step we could recommend this style more prominently
in the manual?

Further improvements should probably go into mcron itself.  It=E2=80=99s a
rather small and simple code base, so if you were looking for a
rewarding hacking session for the week-end, it=E2=80=99s probably a good
candidate.  ;-)

Thanks,
Ludo=E2=80=99.