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Drake Bradley

Q: running background maintenance tasks

The document http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107388 describes the maintenance tasks normally performed between 3:15 am and 5:30 am. If the computer is not left on at night or if it is put to sleep by the energy saver, then these tasks can't occur. The tasks can be done manually for 10.2 or later by using the terminal to enter:

sudo periodic daily [or weekly, or monthly]

Now, suppose one puts the computer to sleep every night so these tasks can't run automatically, and suppose one doesn't perform them manually either. After a month has gone by, the machine is left on all night and sleep mode is deactivated in the energy saver preference pane. Presumably background maintenance tasks will now be performed by OS X between 3:15 am and 5:30 am. My question is this: will the maintenance performed include all three categories (daily, weekly, monthly)? Or just the daily (or possibly the monthly)? Hopefully all three categories would be performed just as if one had entered the terminal and typed:

sudo periodic daily
sudo periodic weekly
sudo periodic monthly

I guess another way to put the question is: Do the monthly maintenance tasks automatically include the weekly and daily tasks as well (if they need to be done), or are they an entirely unique set?

TIA,

Drake Bradley
(from a very wet Whidbey Island)

iMac PowerPC G4, Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Posted on Feb 2, 2006 4:44 PM

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Q: running background maintenance tasks

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  • by Drake Bradley,

    Drake Bradley Drake Bradley Feb 3, 2006 2:09 PM in response to nifflerX
    Level 1 (90 points)
    Feb 3, 2006 2:09 PM in response to nifflerX
    For example, say your daily script was set to run at
    3:15 as normal. You have anacron installed and then
    run 'sudo periodic daily' at 8:15.


    NifflerX,

    Ok, I'll check this out. Thanks!

    Drake
  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Feb 3, 2006 2:21 PM in response to Drake Bradley
    Level 10 (271,367 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 3, 2006 2:21 PM in response to Drake Bradley
    The maintenance scripts, among other things, archive old logs, trim logfiles, update the locate database, etc. Although you system can live without these being done the log files will become larger and larger. This causes slowdowns in performance at best and potential file corruption at the worst. Hence, it pays to run the maintenance according to the schedules to keep the system running clean and properly.

    If you visit here: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/maintscripts.html you will find a complete discussion of what each script does.
  • by Mark Jalbert,Solvedanswer

    Mark Jalbert Mark Jalbert Feb 3, 2006 2:42 PM in response to Drake Bradley
    Level 5 (4,649 points)
    Feb 3, 2006 2:42 PM in response to Drake Bradley
    Drake,

    I think your idea is reasonable. The only drawback is your log files and archive log files will be larger than if you ran the scripts as intended and the /tmp directory will fill with a greater number of junk files. It's not a big deal if these "maintenance task" don't run for months.

    My computers run 24/7 and the scripts run as intended. On notebooks I usually install anacron as nifflerX has suggested.
  • by Drake Bradley,

    Drake Bradley Drake Bradley Feb 3, 2006 4:23 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (90 points)
    Feb 3, 2006 4:23 PM in response to Kappy
    If you visit here:

    http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/maintscripts.html you
    will find a complete discussion of what each script
    does.


    Kappy,

    This was an extremely useful link. I see now I can pretty easily run the scripts as needed, and also find out the timestamps from when they were last run (either manually or automatically). This is just what I needed. Thank you!

    I would like to have shared the "Solved" cudo with you and Mark, as both of you have been really helpful, but the discussion group format doesn't allow that, I guess. But the link you gave me really explained things clearly.

    Best,

    Drake
  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Feb 3, 2006 5:39 PM in response to Drake Bradley
    Level 10 (271,367 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 3, 2006 5:39 PM in response to Drake Bradley
    Glad to help with what I can. I appreciate your thoughts. You can always give me a "helpful" reward if you are so inclined.
  • by Drake Bradley,

    Drake Bradley Drake Bradley Feb 3, 2006 6:21 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (90 points)
    Feb 3, 2006 6:21 PM in response to Kappy
    Glad to help with what I can. I appreciate your
    thoughts. You can always give me a "helpful" reward
    if you are so inclined.


    Kappy,

    I can't because I gave one to your first post, and then to Roam's, and I believe I'm limited to 2 per topic -- that is probably the reason the "help" icon doesn't appear as an option next to your name in the post above.

    But, hey, for what it's worth, here is my "helpful" award:

    ............ *.............
    .......... ..............
    ....****......****...
    ............*...........
    ...........*.*..........
    .........................

    Thanks,

    Drake
  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Feb 3, 2006 6:50 PM in response to Drake Bradley
    Level 10 (271,367 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 3, 2006 6:50 PM in response to Drake Bradley
    Ooops, I forgot. Thanks a lot and all the best.
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