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# 1  
Old 06-30-2009
Shell Question
Hi All,

I am having this problem and I can't find a decent answer anywere.
I'am trying to perform multiple command in a shell script.

For example
Code:
mkdir test
tar cvzf test.tar.gz test/
rmdir test

The problem I get is that if I run this file as a cronjob, with a big "test" folder; the rmdir is making targz incomplete.

I've been using the sleep command to stretch the amount of time so that the tar command has time enhough to finish, but I would like to make it more flexible.

What is the best way to do this.. I know the "command1 && command2" option but the backupscript I am trying to make is multiline..
Also tried:

Code:
command1 &
command2 &
command3

I am a shell beginner, but not a beginning programmer..

Any help appreciated. I will post my code if someone's interested.

Daniel
# 2  
Old 06-30-2009
The easiest and best way is to put your commands in a script and call that from your crontab.
# 3  
Old 06-30-2009
Thanks, reborg, for you quick reply,

I think I wasn't clear enough.

This is the code I wrote:

Code:
#!/bin/sh
HOME=/home/mvo
PATH=/home/mvo/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games

echo -------------------------------------------- >> /home/mvo/backuplog
echo Backup Started `date` >> /home/mvo/backuplog
cd /

if [ -d /home/backups/`date +%w`/ ] ; then
   rm /home/backups/`date +%w`/backup.tar.gz
   echo Overwriting Day `date +%w` starting now.. >> /home/mvo/backuplog
else
   mkdir /home/backups/`date +%w`/
fi

mkdir /home/backups/tmp
mysqldump -u Username -pPassword Databasename | gzip > /home/backups/tmp/mysqldump.sql.dump.gz
echo Database Backup Complete.. >> /home/mvo/backuplog

cp -Rf /var/www /home/backups/tmp
cp -Rf /home/groupoffice /home/backups/tmp
tar czvf /home/backups/`date +%w`/backup.tar.gz /home/backups/tmp
rm -Rf /home/backups/tmp
echo GroupOffice Backup Complete.. >> /home/mvo/backuplog

echo Backup Completed `date` >> /home/mvo/backuplog

And it is a cronjob. However when I run this script ./backup.sh then everything works fine.. When I run it through a cronjob the "rm -Rf /home/backups/tmp" and the "cp -Rf /var/www /home/backups/tmp" commands are like "overwritten" by the next commands.. in other words: they start to early aka they wont wait for previous command to finish.

How can I get past this? I've tried sleep but I want to keep my script flexibel as the content of the backupdirs may change in size.
So what I want to do is wait for a command to finish before calling a next command!

Thanks for you help!
Last edited by dswz; 06-30-2009 at 09:18 PM..
# 4  
Old 07-01-2009
Try the builtin wait command...
Perhaps a sequence like:

Some-command &
wait $!
# 5  
Old 07-02-2009
did you check your mail for any message from cron ?
 
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