Shell Programming and Scripting

Try:

Code:

PATH=$PATH:/local/mnt:/usr/sbin
export PATH

or in bash:

Code:

export PATH=$PATH:/local/mnt:/usr/sbin

Have double checked the typing and it is

Code:

export PATH=$PATH:/local/mnt:/usr/sbin

but I still get "not a valid identifier."

Is there a space in you PATH variable? Or did you use export $PATH instead of export PATH. Is there a space elsewhere in the export command?

No, I've got

Code:

export PATH=$PATH:/local/mnt:/usr/sbin

I checked for spaces. The only space I can see if between the word export and the word PATH. At the end of the statement, there are also no spaces

Have you done simple script to test ? And if it works, then problem is in the your script code. Cron env PATH is not same as you log in. Compare PATH values. Script need external commands ? PATH need include also those dirs.



Save your env and use those values also in cron env. PATH is the most important. SHELL is not important if your script first line is #!/bin/bash and your bash is in /bin directory.

Code:

echo "$PATH
export PATH" >  /local/mnt/scr/myenv

/local/mnt/scr/test1

Code:

#!/bin/bash
. ./myenv
date
echo "PATH:$PATH"
echo "0:$0"

Code:

chmod a+rx /local/mnt/scr/test1

Add line to the crontab

Code:

# run every minute
* * * * * (cd /local/mnt/scr; ./test1 ) >> /local/mnt/scr/cron.test1.log 2>&1

/local/mnt/scr/cron.test1.log include date values ...

I still haven't figured this out, but is there a way to actually run a job as the cron user and see what it is seeing in terms of paths and variables? I can see the crontab is installed under root, but it is not becoming the same user (or it does not have the same environment) as I am when I run the script as root, because my script runs fine from the same location that is being triggered with the crontab.

I have tried everyone's suggestions and they have led me closer to an answer but I have not found one yet.

Log in as the target user, and then run crontab -e and schedule your script. Make sure it explicitly sources your .profile or .bashrc. That should run your script under the that user; c.f. man crontab.
On some systems, there exists /etc/crontab that has an extra user field to be run under.