Why doesn't my backup script work with cron?

[Agent-X]

Alright, I have this script, and it works pretty well if I execute it from the terminal. However, it seems that cron has an inability to correctly carry out the tasks.

To say the least, I don't really see any different between what cron and I are doing.

Maybe one of you can figure it out:

details:
1. the cronfile is called "cronfile"
2. it's located inside of the user's home folder: $HOME/.cronjobs/
3. I installed the cronfile from rc.local
4. The part I'm concerned with is in red

#!/bin/sh
crontab -u workstation /home/workstation/.cronjobs/cronfile

#
# This is the crontab for $HOME/
#
##########################################################################
# Update the background wallpaper every _1_ minutes
*/1 * * * * bash $HOME/.GUI/random-background.sh
##########################################################################
#
##########################################################################
#
# openoffice.org backups
# */5 * * * * bash $HOME/.cronjobs/backups/ooo_backups.sh
##########################################################################
#
##########################################################################
# openoffice.org file collection
# */20 * * * * bash $HOME/.cronjobs/backups/ooo_filecollect.sh
##########################################################################
#
##########################################################################
# AbiWord file collection
*/5 0-23 * * * bash $HOME/.cronjobs/backups/abw_filecollect.sh
##########################################################################

Not too much of a big deal.

Now, every five minutes, the script does execute. But it seems to give me a file with the extension ".tar"; it doesn't seem to give me that archived file itself.

Here is abw_filecollect.sh

#!/bin/sh
# 
# This script collects scattered abiword.org documents and archives them
#
# Change the 5 variables below to fit your computer/backup
#
#

# create the archive folders
mkdir $HOME/archives/
mkdir $HOME/archives/abiword/

# Collect files
mkdir /home/workstation/abiword/
mkdir /home/workstation/abiword/Desktop/
# copy from /home
cp /home/workstation/*.abw /home/workstation/abiword/
cp /home/workstation/*.awt /home/workstation/abiword/
cp /home/workstation/*.doc /home/workstation/abiword/
cp /home/workstation/*.rtf /home/workstation/abiword/
cp /home/workstation/*.txt /home/workstation/abiword/
cp /home/workstation/*.bak~ /home/workstation/abiword/
# copy from ./Desktop
cp /home/workstation/Desktop/*.abw /home/workstation/abiword/Desktop/
cp /home/workstation/Desktop/*.awt /home/workstation/abiword/Desktop/
cp /home/workstation/Desktop/*.doc /home/workstation/abiword/Desktop/
cp /home/workstation/Desktop/*.rtf /home/workstation/abiword/Desktop/
cp /home/workstation/Desktop/*.txt /home/workstation/abiword/Desktop/
cp /home/workstation/Desktop/*.bak~ /home/workstation/abiword/Desktop/

COMPUTER=workstation # name of this computer
DIRECTORIES="/home/workstation/abiword/" # directories to backup
BACKUPDIR=$HOME/archives/abiword # where to store the backups
TAR=/bin/tar                                            # name and locaction of tar

#You should not have to change anything below here

PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
DM=`date +%m-%d-%Y@"("%H.%M.%S")"`             # mm/dd/yy@HH:MM e.g. 07-04-2005@(07.14.03)

# Backup the moment
$TAR -cf $BACKUPDIR/$DM-$COMPUTER.tar $DIRECTORIES

# Remove used materials
rm -r /home/workstation/abiword/

So, that's that.
Cron doesn't seem to actually make an archive file; it makes a file with the extension ".tar"; each time, the file is like 0 bytes. I don't know what is up with that.



The last file was executed by terminal.
The others were done by cron.

But, if I execute it from the terminal while logged in as the user "workstation," then it actually creates the archived ".tar" of whatever abiword files might be around.

I don't know why it's not working.

Any guesses?

[vsemaska]

Need more information. I suggest you do the following:

Enable verify mode by appending -vx to the 1st line of your script:

#!/bin/sh -vx

Change your crontab to pipe all output to a log file:

*/5 0-23 * * * bash $HOME/.cronjobs/backups/abw_filecollect.sh > $HOME/abw_filecollect.log 2>&1

Then look at the log for errors or post the log.

[Agent-X]

I believe it has to do with the rc.local file.
Rc.local runs as root during bootup.
WHile in terminal, I was the user, not root.

I assume that's the problem, because when I reloaded the cronfile as the user, it executed correctly.

So, anyway I can fix this problem, or should I make it a startup program in gnome?

[bigtomrodney]

I assume you are not leaving the $HOME variable as a variable in the cron script?

[matonb]

As bigtom says, $HOME is a no no.

I'm not sure if ~ will work, I usually give the full path to scripts in cron.

[scm]

As bigtom says, $HOME is a no no.

I'm not sure if ~ will work, I usually give the full path to scripts in cron.

~ should work in bash and ksh (as will ~username for any other user's home directory) but I concur that using fully qualified pathnames is The Way To Go with cron jobs - never assume a useful environment and you won't go far wrong.