Package: cron
Version: 3.0pl1-104
Severity: minor
Tags: patch
The package description for cron says:
# Description: management of regular background processing
# cron is a background process (`daemon') that runs programs at regular
# intervals (for example, every minute, day, week or month); which
# processes are run and at what times are specified in the `crontab'.
# .
# Users may also install crontabs so that processes are run on
# their behalf, though this feature can be disabled or restricted to
# particular users.
# .
# Output from the commands is usually mailed to the system administrator
# (or to the user in question); you should probably install a mail system
# as well so that you can receive these messages.
# .
# This cron package is configured by default to do various standard
# system maintenance tasks, such as ensuring that logfiles do not
# grow endlessly and overflow the disk.
# .
# The lockfile-progs package is only a "Suggests" because of the poor
# way that dselect handles "Recommends", but I do strongly suggest that
# you install it; it prevents /etc/cron.daily/standard from running multiple
# times if something gets jammed.
As has already been reported (#452460), the reference to dselect
(and therefore quite possibly the rationale for this decision) is
outdated. But the paragraph before that has also been inaccurate
since the nineties (see #42301); the daily "standard" cronjob deals
only with /var/backups/ and lost+found, not with logrotation.
Here's a completely rewritten version that looks good to me:
Description: process scheduling daemon
The cron daemon is a background process that runs particular programs
at particular times (such as every Friday at midnight, or once every
month), as specified in a crontab. By default, users may also create
crontabs of their own so that processes are run on their behalf.
.
A standard daily "cron job" is installed to perform system maintenance
tasks such as creating /var/backups/passwd.bak.
.
Output from the commands is usually sent to the system administrator
(or to the user in question); for these messages to be delivered a
mail system must be installed.
...but of course it depends what you're doing about lockfile-progs.
Personally I'm unclear about why the daily standard cronjob even
bothers using file locking - couldn't it just start with:
#!/bin/sh
[ $$ != "$(pgrep -xfu 0 '/bin/sh /etc/cron.daily/standard')" ] &&
echo DOUBLE STANDARD &&
exit 1
or something?
-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.25.custom
Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Versions of packages cron depends on:
ii adduser 3.107 add and remove users and groups
ii debianutils 2.28.4 Miscellaneous utilities specific t
ii libc6 2.7-10 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii libpam0g 0.99.7.1-6 Pluggable Authentication Modules l
ii libselinux1 2.0.59-1 SELinux shared libraries
ii lsb-base 3.2-11 Linux Standard Base 3.2 init scrip
Versions of packages cron recommends:
ii exim4 4.69-5 meta-package to ease Exim MTA (v4)
ii exim4-daemon-light [mail-tran 4.69-5+b1 lightweight Exim MTA (v4) daemon
-- no debconf information
--
JBR
Ankh kak! (Ancient Egyptian blessing)
diff -ru cron-3.0pl1.pristine/debian/control cron-3.0pl1/debian/control
--- cron-3.0pl1.pristine/debian/control 2008-06-09 17:16:51.000000000 +0100
+++ cron-3.0pl1/debian/control 2008-06-09 17:25:23.000000000 +0100
@@ -13,24 +13,15 @@
Suggests: anacron (>=2.0-1), logrotate, lockfile-progs, checksecurity
Conflicts: suidmanager (<< 0.50), lockfile-progs (<< 0.1.7)
Provides:
-Description: management of regular background processing
- cron is a background process (`daemon') that runs programs at regular
- intervals (for example, every minute, day, week or month); which
- processes are run and at what times are specified in the `crontab'.
+Description: process scheduling daemon
+ The cron daemon is a background process that runs particular programs
+ at particular times (such as every Friday at midnight, or once every
+ month), as specified in a crontab. By default, users may also create
+ crontabs of their own so that processes are run on their behalf.
.
- Users may also install crontabs so that processes are run on
- their behalf, though this feature can be disabled or restricted to
- particular users.
+ A standard daily "cron job" is installed to perform system maintenance
+ tasks such as creating /var/backups/passwd.bak.
.
- Output from the commands is usually mailed to the system administrator
- (or to the user in question); you should probably install a mail system
- as well so that you can receive these messages.
- .
- This cron package is configured by default to do various standard
- system maintenance tasks, such as ensuring that logfiles do not
- grow endlessly and overflow the disk.
- .
- The lockfile-progs package is only a "Suggests" because of the poor
- way that dselect handles "Recommends", but I do strongly suggest that
- you install it; it prevents /etc/cron.daily/standard from running multiple
- times if something gets jammed.
+ Output from the commands is usually sent to the system administrator
+ (or to the user in question); for these messages to be delivered a
+ mail system must be installed.
