Shell Programming and Scripting

to see your environment set just type env

Yes, write a simple one-off cron containing something like

Code:

env > /tmp/cronenv.txt

It can be most revealing to find out how basic the environment is when running from cron. It is extremely unlikely that the default $PATH will know about Perl (... unless you have changed it). The normal fix is to write a Shell script which sets up (and exports) the Environment Variables you need and then runs the Perl script.

If you cron is failing for a fundamental reason the error messages will be in unix mail for the owner of the cron.


To answer in any further detail, please post what Operating System and version you are running and what Shell you use for system scripts. You need to post this basic information in every thread.

Ok so I found system.env and I see in there:

Code:

PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/ccs/bin

Should I update this to read:

Code:

PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/ccs/bin:/usr/bin

EDIT: Oh never mind. I typed env instead and it looks like /usr/bin is already defined.

But there may be more you need, so do what methyl suggested and compare with your env...

Sorry guys I am slowly starting to understand what I need to do. I basically need to make cron do the env command and stick the result in a file so I can see what environment variables IT deals with when it runs.

Ok that done and the result is:

Code:

HOME=/home/seitjn
LOGNAME=seitjn
PATH=/usr/bin:
SHELL=/usr/bin/sh
TZ=Eire

---------- Post updated at 04:03 PM ---------- Previous update was at 09:42 AM ----------

UPDATE:

The problem is actually that the following script WILL run using crontab

Code:

#!/usr/bin/perl

my $username = "jaymoney";
print "$username\n";

The following script will NOT run using crontab (or rather it will run but it won't get the user name...)

Code:

#!/usr/bin/perl

my $username = `whoami`;
print "$username\n";

The difference here being the use of the Unix command to get the user's ID rather than hard coding it.
Anyone have any insight into this?

I'm on SunOS 5.10 if that means anything to anyone :P

Thanks!

Now you are starting to understand...
the command whoami and similar are using things that are initialized at logging time but cron ignores all about that since it is not associated to a terminal to start with...
Did you compare the output of env using cron, and typing in your interactive shell?

Yeah the difference is a lot

From the cron

Code:

HOME=/home/seitjn
LOGNAME=seitjn
PATH=/usr/bin:
SHELL=/usr/bin/sh
TZ=Eire

From the terminal

Code:

PATH=/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/ccs/bin:/usr/dt/bin:/opt/SUNWconn/bin:/opt/SUNWste/bin

It goes on even more than that..

So how do I change the evn stuff for cron?