Cron task to reboot computer?

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Level 9

62,203 points

Cron task to reboot computer?

Howdy,

I've setup a simple cron task in /etc/crontab to reboot the computer every morning at 6AM but it's not working. It reads as follows:

minute hour mday month wday who command
0 6 * * 1-5 root reboot

Anyone got any ideas why it wouldn't run?

thanks
A

15 MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Feb 18, 2008 8:18 AM

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Answer 1

Zerwas

Level 4

1,154 points

Feb 18, 2008 8:32 AM in response to Templeton Peck

Try:


0 6 * * 1-5 root /sbin/reboot

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Answer 2

Feb 18, 2008 8:31 AM in response to Templeton Peck

Usually you need to add the full path of the binary to crontabs, so in this case it would be

0 6 * * 1-5 root /sbin/reboot

Doug

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Answer 3

Templeton Peck Author

Level 9

62,203 points

Feb 18, 2008 8:42 AM in response to Templeton Peck

Thanks fellas. I'll make the change and post back tomorrow with the results!

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Answer 4

Feb 18, 2008 7:11 PM in response to Doug Niven1

Doug Niven1 wrote:
Usually you need to add the full path of the binary to crontabs

Yes, that's often the case. Also, it's possible that reboot won't work if it's not run by the root user. I know that's the case with shutdown (and the UPS shutdown script that uses shutdown). If it is, then you'll have to put it into the root user's crontab:

<pre class="command">sudo crontab -e</pre>

At least that's the way it is on Tiger...

charlie

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Answer 5

Templeton Peck Author

Level 9

62,203 points

Feb 19, 2008 7:12 AM in response to Doug Niven1

Thanks fellas. Worked perfectly.

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