91 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
91 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
systemd-crontab-generator
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=========================
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## What's it?
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This is a compatibility layer for crontab-to-systemd timers framework. It works by parsing
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crontab and anacrontab files from usual places like `/etc/crontab` and `/var/spool/cron`
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and generating systemd timers and services. You can use `cron.target` as a single control
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point for the generated units.
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It's intented to be drop-in replacement for all cron implementations.
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## Rationale
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The crontab generator for systemd (implemented in C) was already [published][] on maillist,
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but was later [declined][] by Lennart:
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> I am not convinced this is a really good idea. From my perspective at
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least it appears that we should much rather just convert the crontabs
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and that's it. Unlike sysv init scripts the number of crontab in use (at
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least on Fedora) is relatively small, and very rare in third-party
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packages.
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>
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> Lennart
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While I'm generally agree with him, I'm not totally convinced it's always convinient to herd a bunch of
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separate `*.timer` and `*.service` files. I find convinient to have all jobs schedule in one single file,
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and it's more obvious to see relations in jobs scheduling if you have several jobs on sight at once.
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All things considered, I think people should have an alternative here, so I decided to support
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the idea of systemd crontab generator. Though the original C implementation of crontab parser
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from maillist is very incomplete: it doesn't support monotonic schedules (like `@daily` or `@yearly`),
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it can't parse comments and environment variable settings, etc.
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I'm not very good in C, so C implementation (while it's recommended for generators) whould take
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me ages to write, so I used Python for proof-of-concept implementation. And here comes
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**systemd-crontab-generator**.
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[published]: http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/systemd-devel/2013-August/012591.html
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[declined]: http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/systemd-devel/2013-September/013120.html
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## Installation
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If you are on [Archlinux][arch], install from [AUR][aur], otherwise see `PKGBUILD` file and
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execute commands from `package()` sub.
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[arch]: https://www.archlinux.org/
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[aur]: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/systemd-crontab-generator/
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## Usage
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The generator runs on system boot and when the crontabs change.
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The project includes simple `crontab` command equivalent, which behaves like standard crontab command
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(and accepts the same main options).
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To control cron jobs, use `cron.target`, e.g. to start and enable cron after installation:
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# systemctl enable cron.target
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# systemctl start cron.target
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## Disclaimer
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This is a beta product! Use at your own risk! I'm not responsible for any data losses,
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time losses, money losses or any other failures due to usage or misusage of this project!
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I've run this product on my local server for several months without issues, but it does not
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mean you will have no issues as well! Don't blame me for any crashes because of the product!
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You were warned!
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## License
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The project is licensed under [CC-BY](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Don't forget to attribute if you derive from my work!
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Also, specially for [systemd-cron](https://github.com/systemd-cron), the project is licensed
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under [MIT](http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) license for compatibility.
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## Contribution
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You are most welcome to post [bugs][issues] and [PRs][pulls]!
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Also check out [comments][] in AUR for current news about Arch package status.
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[issues]: https://github.com/kstep/systemd-crontab-generator/issues
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[pulls]: https://github.com/kstep/systemd-crontab-generator/pulls
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[comments]: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/systemd-crontab-generator/?comments=all
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## Copyright
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© 2014, Konstantin Stepanov (<me@kstep.me>)
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[](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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