Re: Why following ksh script not works in crontab?

If this is root's crontab you could try su-ing to informix, assuming the appropriate environment variables get set up for that user (wouldn't make too much sense to create user "informix" if it didn't though, would it?). 0 10,13 * * * /bin/su - informix -c mybackup_script Remember all crontab entries are run from the Bourne shell, so the command will most likely be executed by the system as /bin/sh -c "/bin/su - informix -c mybackup_script" On Thu, 24 Sep 1998 14:35:51 +0100, Peter Lancashire <Peter.Lancashire.PL1@bayer.co.uk> wrote: >Ruiming Chen wrote: >> >> The following ksh script works well in command line. >> But not work in crontab, why? >> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- >> #!/bin/ksh >> >> # Informix back up logical log and will create a file logical.log >> >> ontape -a << EOF>> ^M >> y^M >> EOF >> >> # where ^M is return input in vi by type ctrl-V and Enter >> sleep 3 >> >> hour=`date +%H` >> >> if [[ $hour -ge 9 && $hour -lt 12 ]] >> then cp logical.log logical_tape1.log >> else cp logical.log logical_tape2.log >> fi >> cat /dev/null > logical.log >> ------------------------------------------------------------------- >> The above script runs perfectly if on command line. But when I schedual >> in the crontab, I always got 0 (zero) size of logical_tape1/2.log. It >> seems >> to me the script does the "cp" command before the "ontape -a" processing >> >> finish. I even put a "sleep" between them. Why is that? >> >> Do I have to run the script in background in crontab? like >> >> 0 10,13 * * * mybackup_script & >> >> Currently I don't put in background "&" >> >> BTW, My OS is HP-UX 10.20, database is Informix Dynamic Server 7.3. >> For those who has OS Solaris 2.5/6.x, do you have this problem? >> To all, do you have solution for me? Thank you very much in advance! >> >> -- >> RC Square Team. >> >> --------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> Name: vcard.vcf >> Part 1.2 Type: text/x-vcard >> Encoding: 7bit >> Description: Card for Chui /Chen, Raymond/Ruiming > >I agree with Jonathan and Neil about the environment. I have found (also >by bitter experience) that the only way to ensure that Informix software >works wherever it is used is to put ALL the environment settings in a >SINGLE source file and call that as a shell source (with dot). You do >this from the cron job and you can guarantee it will have the same >environment as all the rest of your programs. It would also solve the >problems posted here about the environment given to programs run by the >SPL SYSTEM statement. > >If an Informix manual writer is reading this, perhaps he or she could >include the advice in the next issue? Even better, perhaps a dummy >commented file, including ALL the environment variables (they are >growing like topsy) could be sent as part of the distribution. This also >applies to the ".rc" file too. Thus would one more source of grief for >new installers be removed.