fcron doesn't work after a compter restart

[lachenmaier]

I am trying to run fcron/fcronq on a ubuntu lucid lynx (10.04) system. It has linux kernal 2.6.32-24-generic, and Gnome 2.30.2 on a Dell D610 laptop. I want to use fcron to schedule backups so that if the system is down during one or more scheduled backups, it will execute the backup once upon restart. However, I am having the problem that fcron is disabled after every restart.

I have installed fcron 3.0.6, the latest stable version, and fcronq 0.2.0-1. I installed fcron by
./configure
/usr/bin/make
sudo /usr/bin/make install

In lucid the group id 22 is already used so I used the following commands to install group and user fcron on id=200 using the commands given in
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/svn/general/fcron.html .

sudo groupadd -g 200 fcron &&
useradd -d /dev/null -c "Fcron User" -g fcron -s /bin/false -u 200 fcron

This successfully created the user/group fcron and the installation commands (scripts) ran successfully. However, user fcron does not appear in the Users and Groups gui as does the user cron. However, I know it is there, because I got an error, when I attempted to create a different user and group with id=200.

I used the default value for all questions asked during the install. I then went to Synaptic and completely removed anacron, and did a simple remove on its dependents gnome-schedule and ubuntu-desktop. Before I did the removals fcronq would be removed from my System Tools menu with each restart.

My problem is that if I perform a restart fcron no longer will schedule any jobs. I can see fcron in the System Monitor display saying Waiting Channel poll_schedule_timeout. If I setup a scheduled task I can see another copy of fcron come up at the scheduled time, but no task is initiated.

If I issue the following commands (kill and restart fcron) from a Terminal after the system reboot is completed, fcron will schedule tasks and operate normally.
/sudo kill -TERM pidof fcron/--in my case pid was 1416.
//etc/init.d/fcron start
/

It seems that the initial fcron that comes up at restart is unable to start a scheduled task, but that a re-initiated one can do so successfully.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
Ralph

[Thibault Godouet]

Hi Ralf,

Could you send fcron's logs for a time period from before you stop your
PC to after it has restarted?

That would probably be in /var/log/cron.log.

If that file doesn't exist, then edit /etc/syslog.conf as root and add
the line:
cron.* /var/log/cron.log
and then restart syslog with:
/etc/init.d/sysklogd restart
That will make syslog write the log messages from fcron in
/var/log/cron.log.

Regards,
Thibault.

Post by lachenmaier
I am trying to run fcron/fcronq on a ubuntu lucid lynx (10.04) system.
It has linux kernal 2.6.32-24-generic, and Gnome 2.30.2 on a Dell D610
laptop. I want to use fcron to schedule backups so that if the system is
down during one or more scheduled backups, it will execute the backup
once upon restart. However, I am having the problem that fcron is
disabled after every restart.
I have installed fcron 3.0.6, the latest stable version, and fcronq
0.2.0-1. I installed fcron by
./configure
/usr/bin/make
sudo /usr/bin/make install
In lucid the group id 22 is already used so I used the following
commands to install group and user fcron on id=200 using the commands
given in
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/svn/general/fcron.html .
sudo groupadd -g 200 fcron &&
useradd -d /dev/null -c "Fcron User" -g fcron -s /bin/false -u 200 fcron
This successfully created the user/group fcron and the installation
commands (scripts) ran successfully. However, user fcron does not appear
in the Users and Groups gui as does the user cron. However, I know it is
there, because I got an error, when I attempted to create a different
user and group with id=200.
I used the default value for all questions asked during the install. I
then went to Synaptic and completely removed anacron, and did a simple
remove on its dependents gnome-schedule and ubuntu-desktop. Before I did
the removals fcronq would be removed from my System Tools menu with each
restart.
My problem is that if I perform a restart fcron no longer will schedule
any jobs. I can see fcron in the System Monitor display saying Waiting
Channel poll_schedule_timeout. If I setup a scheduled task I can see
another copy of fcron come up at the scheduled time, but no task is
initiated.
If I issue the following commands (kill and restart fcron) from a
Terminal after the system reboot is completed, fcron will schedule tasks
and operate normally.
/sudo kill -TERM pidof fcron/--in my case pid was 1416.
//etc/init.d/fcron start
/
It seems that the initial fcron that comes up at restart is unable to
start a scheduled task, but that a re-initiated one can do so successfully.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Ralph

[lachenmaier]

Thibault

Thank you very much for responding. I appreciate it. I tried to follow your instructions, but I was unsuccessful for the following reasons:

1. There is no /var/log/cron.log.
2. There is no edit /etc/syslog.conf. I created one with the single line that you specify below.
3. There is no /etc/init.d/sysklogd.
4. I did use grep to filter all messages with "fcron" from syslog. I killed and restarted fcron, then ran a job, which worked fine. Then I restarted and ran a job that fcron tried to initiate but never ran. Then I killed and restarted fcron and ran another job that ran fine. See attachment.

Please send me any other instructions about what you need to help me.

Thanks again

Ralph

Post by Thibault Godouet
Hi Ralf,
Could you send fcron's logs for a time period from before you stop your PC to after it has restarted?
That would probably be in /var/log/cron.log.
cron.* /var/log/cron.log
/etc/init.d/sysklogd restart
That will make syslog write the log messages from fcron in /var/log/cron.log.
Regards,
Thibault.

Post by lachenmaier
I am trying to run fcron/fcronq on a ubuntu lucid lynx (10.04) system.
It has linux kernal 2.6.32-24-generic, and Gnome 2.30.2 on a Dell D610
laptop. I want to use fcron to schedule backups so that if the system is
down during one or more scheduled backups, it will execute the backup
once upon restart. However, I am having the problem that fcron is
disabled after every restart.
I have installed fcron 3.0.6, the latest stable version, and fcronq
0.2.0-1. I installed fcron by
./configure
/usr/bin/make
sudo /usr/bin/make install
In lucid the group id 22 is already used so I used the following
commands to install group and user fcron on id=200 using the commands
given in
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/svn/general/fcron.html .
sudo groupadd -g 200 fcron &&
useradd -d /dev/null -c "Fcron User" -g fcron -s /bin/false -u 200 fcron
This successfully created the user/group fcron and the installation
commands (scripts) ran successfully. However, user fcron does not appear
in the Users and Groups gui as does the user cron. However, I know it is
there, because I got an error, when I attempted to create a different
user and group with id=200.
I used the default value for all questions asked during the install. I
then went to Synaptic and completely removed anacron, and did a simple
remove on its dependents gnome-schedule and ubuntu-desktop. Before I did
the removals fcronq would be removed from my System Tools menu with each
restart.
My problem is that if I perform a restart fcron no longer will schedule
any jobs. I can see fcron in the System Monitor display saying Waiting
Channel poll_schedule_timeout. If I setup a scheduled task I can see
another copy of fcron come up at the scheduled time, but no task is
initiated.
If I issue the following commands (kill and restart fcron) from a
Terminal after the system reboot is completed, fcron will schedule tasks
and operate normally.
/sudo kill -TERM pidof fcron/--in my case pid was 1416.
//etc/init.d/fcron start
/
It seems that the initial fcron that comes up at restart is unable to
start a scheduled task, but that a re-initiated one can do so successfully.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Ralph

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[lachenmaier]

I finally was able to set up logging for fcron. Ubuntu uses rsyslog rather than syslog, and I needed to uncomment the cron line in /etc/rsyslog.d/50-default.conf. Anyway the log you wanted is attached. It shows /var/log/cron.log from computer bootup through a running of fcron where the job didn't execute, through the kill and restart of fcron, and through the correct execution of the job. The only change I made was to use fcronq to change the time to trigger the running of the job. The log is annotated at the top.

Thank you for your interest and any help is appreciated.

Ralph

Post by Thibault Godouet
Hi Ralf,
Could you send fcron's logs for a time period from before you stop your PC to after it has restarted?
That would probably be in /var/log/cron.log.
cron.* /var/log/cron.log
/etc/init.d/sysklogd restart
That will make syslog write the log messages from fcron in /var/log/cron.log.
Regards,
Thibault.

Post by lachenmaier
I am trying to run fcron/fcronq on a ubuntu lucid lynx (10.04) system.
It has linux kernal 2.6.32-24-generic, and Gnome 2.30.2 on a Dell D610
laptop. I want to use fcron to schedule backups so that if the system is
down during one or more scheduled backups, it will execute the backup
once upon restart. However, I am having the problem that fcron is
disabled after every restart.
I have installed fcron 3.0.6, the latest stable version, and fcronq
0.2.0-1. I installed fcron by
./configure
/usr/bin/make
sudo /usr/bin/make install
In lucid the group id 22 is already used so I used the following
commands to install group and user fcron on id=200 using the commands
given in
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/svn/general/fcron.html .
sudo groupadd -g 200 fcron &&
useradd -d /dev/null -c "Fcron User" -g fcron -s /bin/false -u 200 fcron
This successfully created the user/group fcron and the installation
commands (scripts) ran successfully. However, user fcron does not appear
in the Users and Groups gui as does the user cron. However, I know it is
there, because I got an error, when I attempted to create a different
user and group with id=200.
I used the default value for all questions asked during the install. I
then went to Synaptic and completely removed anacron, and did a simple
remove on its dependents gnome-schedule and ubuntu-desktop. Before I did
the removals fcronq would be removed from my System Tools menu with each
restart.
My problem is that if I perform a restart fcron no longer will schedule
any jobs. I can see fcron in the System Monitor display saying Waiting
Channel poll_schedule_timeout. If I setup a scheduled task I can see
another copy of fcron come up at the scheduled time, but no task is
initiated.
If I issue the following commands (kill and restart fcron) from a
Terminal after the system reboot is completed, fcron will schedule tasks
and operate normally.
/sudo kill -TERM pidof fcron/--in my case pid was 1416.
//etc/init.d/fcron start
/
It seems that the initial fcron that comes up at restart is unable to
start a scheduled task, but that a re-initiated one can do so successfully.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Ralph

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Liste de diffusion fcronsupport