bug#40499: mcron missing initial directories?

bug#40499: mcron missing initial directories?

[Danny Milosavljevic]

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$ crontab -e

In unknown file:
           0 (copy-file "/tmp/crontab.10313" "/var/cron/tabs/dannym")

ERROR: In procedure copy-file:
In procedure copy-file: No such file or directory

/var/cron doesn't exit either.  Maybe we should automatically create /var/cron ?

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bug#40499: mcron missing initial directories?

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi Danny,

Danny Milosavljevic <dannym@scratchpost.org> skribis:

> $ crontab -e
>
> In unknown file:
>            0 (copy-file "/tmp/crontab.10313" "/var/cron/tabs/dannym")
>
> ERROR: In procedure copy-file:
> In procedure copy-file: No such file or directory
>
> /var/cron doesn't exit either.  Maybe we should automatically create /var/cron ?

Yes, this should be done in an activation snippet.

Ludo’.

bug#40499: mcron missing initial directories?

[Efraim Flashner]

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On Wed, Apr 08, 2020 at 11:55:05AM +0200, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
> Hi Danny,
> 
> Danny Milosavljevic <dannym@scratchpost.org> skribis:
> 
> > $ crontab -e
> >
> > In unknown file:
> >            0 (copy-file "/tmp/crontab.10313" "/var/cron/tabs/dannym")
> >
> > ERROR: In procedure copy-file:
> > In procedure copy-file: No such file or directory
> >
> > /var/cron doesn't exit either.  Maybe we should automatically create /var/cron ?
> 
> Yes, this should be done in an activation snippet.
> 

Should this be part of a crontab service or does the mere existence of
the files allow cron tasks to start working?

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bug#40499: mcron missing initial directories?

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

Efraim Flashner <efraim@flashner.co.il> skribis:

> On Wed, Apr 08, 2020 at 11:55:05AM +0200, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
>> Hi Danny,
>> 
>> Danny Milosavljevic <dannym@scratchpost.org> skribis:
>> 
>> > $ crontab -e
>> >
>> > In unknown file:
>> >            0 (copy-file "/tmp/crontab.10313" "/var/cron/tabs/dannym")
>> >
>> > ERROR: In procedure copy-file:
>> > In procedure copy-file: No such file or directory
>> >
>> > /var/cron doesn't exit either.  Maybe we should automatically create /var/cron ?
>> 
>> Yes, this should be done in an activation snippet.
>> 
>
> Should this be part of a crontab service

That’s what I had in mind.

> or does the mere existence of the files allow cron tasks to start
> working?

Good question.  Actually I think the crontab compatibility bit is rather
separate in mcron: AIUI, you have to run ‘crond’, not ‘mcron’, if you
want that to get that functionality (info "(mcron) Invoking cron or
crond").

So perhaps all this is moot unless/until we have an mcron-crond service.

Ludo’.

bug#40499: mcron missing initial directories?

[Maxim Cournoyer]

Hello,

Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> writes:

> Hi,
>
> Efraim Flashner <efraim@flashner.co.il> skribis:
>
>> On Wed, Apr 08, 2020 at 11:55:05AM +0200, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
>>> Hi Danny,
>>> 
>>> Danny Milosavljevic <dannym@scratchpost.org> skribis:
>>> 
>>> > $ crontab -e
>>> >
>>> > In unknown file:
>>> >            0 (copy-file "/tmp/crontab.10313" "/var/cron/tabs/dannym")
>>> >
>>> > ERROR: In procedure copy-file:
>>> > In procedure copy-file: No such file or directory
>>> >
>>> > /var/cron doesn't exit either.  Maybe we should automatically create /var/cron ?
>>> 
>>> Yes, this should be done in an activation snippet.
>>> 
>>
>> Should this be part of a crontab service
>
> That’s what I had in mind.
>
>> or does the mere existence of the files allow cron tasks to start
>> working?
>
> Good question.  Actually I think the crontab compatibility bit is rather
> separate in mcron: AIUI, you have to run ‘crond’, not ‘mcron’, if you
> want that to get that functionality (info "(mcron) Invoking cron or
> crond").
>
> So perhaps all this is moot unless/until we have an mcron-crond service.

I think so.  And since Dale Mellor, the original author of GNU Mcron
advises to keep the crond service per-user rather than for the system
[0], if we want a crond service it seems we should turn ourselves to
Guix Home.

Closing.

[0]  https://issues.guix.gnu.org/40950#5