[Tfug] /etc/crontab vs /etc/cron.*

[bpoag at comcast.net]

I prefer a single crontabs over daily/hourly/weekly arrangements. Less confusing, and easier to read when performance issues arise. I also would suggest against allowing users to dictate personal crontabs.. In my experience, giving the user visibility to *anything* related to cron can be... (looking for the right choice of words here)... politically problematic. Sometimes its healthy to keep your users in the dark on some things. 

It takes longer to explain individually to 50 different people that "Here's why this guy's job that's running in the middle of the night isn't slowing your stuff down." than it does to say "tell me what you want to kick off, when, and how often. I'll take care of the rest." 

You should always be *prepared* to explain the how and why's, of course....but always keep in mind Oz works best when the curtain's closed. Everything was fine until the bitch in the ruby slippers showed up and started asking questions. :) 

Cheers, 
Bowie 





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christopher Robbins" <robbinsc at gmail.com> 
To: "Tucson Free Unix Group" <tfug at tfug.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 2:07:06 PM GMT -07:00 U.S. Mountain Time (Arizona) 
Subject: [Tfug] /etc/crontab vs /etc/cron.* 

Is there any difference between setting scripts to run 
via crontab versus dropping a copy in /etc/cron.* (daily/hourly/weekly)? 


I understand that crontab runs the scripts within the 
/etc/cron.* directories, but I'm wondering if there's any 
specific advantage to one or the other...I've always used 
the respective directories, but is there a difference between 
the two? 


TIA 

-- 
Christopher P Robbins 
Systems Programmer 
Department of English - University of Arizona 
1423 East University Blvd. 
Modern Languages, Bldg. 67, Room 422 
Tucson, Arizona 85719 
Phone: (520) 621-3496 
Email: robbinsc at gmail.com 

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