Crontab & Kcron (for KDE)

General system Welcome app
#1

Hi every body. Happy New Year to all !

it look like i’m a real dummy !!!

I tried to use crontab to schedule the shutdown of my computers at a specific time.

That’ s what I’ve done :

1°)
[…@HPG4 ~]$ crontab -e

A window opens, but it is impossible to modify it…

Why ??? I don’t know.

2°)
[…@HPG4 ~]$ su -
Password:
[root@HPG4 ~]# cd /etc/cron.daily
[root@HPG4 cron.daily]# touch shutdown
root@HPG4 cron.daily]# ls
shutdown
[root@HPG4 cron.daily]# nano shutdown

GNU nano 5.4 shutdown
15 17 * * * shutdown

[root@HPG4 cron.daily]# crontab -l
no crontab for root

[root@HPG4 cron.daily]#
ctrl+d
logout
[…@HPG4 ~]$ systemctl enable cronie
[…@HPG4 ~]$ crontab -l
43 17 * * * shutdown

But nothing happens at 5:43 p.m. (???).

3°) […@HPG4 ~]$locate kcron
/timeshift/snapshots/2020-10-17_10-15-25/localhost/usr/share/doc/HTML/ca/kcontrol5/kcron

etc…

It seems that kcron is well installed on my system, but impossible to find it in graphic mode.

[…@HPG4 ~]$ man kcron
No manual entry for kcron
…
bash: kcron: command not found

Of course, I went on multiple forums, without success.

Here are my questions:

What did I do wrong with crontab?

Why can’t I access kcron in graphical mode?

Is there a tutorial for a beginner under arch linux to set up crontab?

So, thank you in advance, for anyone who take time to read me .

Marc

#2

Cronjobs are more or less obsolete. Maybe you should have a closer look at systemd.

Just my 2 cent.

#3

I don’t even have 2 cents! :laughing:

1 Like
#4

I still would have 2 cent for you. But only € cent. No US currency here. :laughing:

#5

Was it opened in vim by any chance? Try

VISUAL=nano crontab -e

That will open it in nano editor (or replace nano with your prefered editor).

Try full path /usr/bin/shutdown. (edit: better way is to first check which shutdown to see where this file is and then use this path to crontab).

#6

Is there any way to convince Timeshift to abandon Crontab and accept systend instead? Then you could dispose of cronie.

#7

I don’t use timeshift and I don’t have it installed. Just take a look at the file list, if it includes a .timer and/or .service file. If that’s the case you can most likely control it using systemctl. Most likely you can configure it by editing the timer/system file.

1 Like
#8

Don’t know the implementation of timeshift but I guess it would be a major job to have it support systemd as well.

But you could look at the developer site with command:

 eos-pkginfo timeshift

and maybe ask if the dev is willing to support systemd too.

2 Likes
#9

Cdn funds will do! It’s worth less so you save money. :wink:

3 Likes
#10

Hi vlkon & the folks & thanks to answer,

1°) I only use “nano” to edit my files
2°)Did you mean 43 17 * * * /usr/bin/shutdown ???

3°) Somebody to tell me how to launch kcron ??

Thanks again & happy 2021

#11

Yes

#12

Hi vlkon and thanks for your answer. I will try it asap.

Have a very good day