cron does not seem to be working

[memius]

ps auxww | grep -i cron yields:

root 3801 0.0 0.0 3412 1032 ? Ss 22:27 0:00 /usr/sbin/cron
tmh 5683 0.0 0.0 3236 820 pts/0 R+ 23:02 0:00 grep -i cron

my crontab contains the following:

# m h dom mon dow command
40 4 * * * rdiff-backup /home/tmh/ sin2::/home/tmh/box.home.tmh.backup/
* * * * * echo tootsiya

the log shows the following:

tmh@box:~$ tail /var/log/cron.log
Jun 9 22:57:01 box /USR/SBIN/CRON[5140]: (tmh) CMD (echo tootsiya)
Jun 9 22:58:01 box /USR/SBIN/CRON[5214]: (tmh) CMD (echo tootsiya)
Jun 9 22:59:01 box /USR/SBIN/CRON[5359]: (tmh) CMD (echo tootsiya)
Jun 9 23:00:01 box /USR/SBIN/CRON[5436]: (tmh) CMD (echo tootsiya)
Jun 9 23:01:01 box /USR/SBIN/CRON[5528]: (tmh) CMD (echo tootsiya)
Jun 9 23:02:01 box /USR/SBIN/CRON[5611]: (tmh) CMD (echo tootsiya)
Jun 9 23:03:01 box /USR/SBIN/CRON[5690]: (tmh) CMD (echo tootsiya)
Jun 9 23:03:15 box crontab[5764]: (tmh) BEGIN EDIT (tmh)
Jun 9 23:04:01 box crontab[5764]: (tmh) END EDIT (tmh)
Jun 9 23:04:01 box /USR/SBIN/CRON[5774]: (tmh) CMD (echo tootsiya)

and yet there is no sign that echo is printing anything, nor does the rdiff-log show any activity over the last three days (nights).

[b2bwild]

X_X, Check your system mail. (use client like mutt,mail)
Cron won't print the outputs on tty.

EDIT: The command is executed in background. so you can't see the output on tty.
just use the command echo something > /dev/tty1
This will print the output on 1st virtual terminal

[memius]

yes, one thing in that it doesn't print things to the terminal, but it also fails to execute rdiff-backup every night. that's the important point.

[memius]

i just realized rdiff-backup requires a password.

how do i get that into my crontab?

[b2bwild]

Add a cron job using root user.