Re: PROPOSAL to serialize cron.{daily,weekly,monthly}

[Steve Greenland <steveg@moregruel.net>]

On 07-Sep-04, 17:33 (CDT), Abdullah Ramazanoglu <ar018@yahoo.com> wrote: 
> The only plausible answer I can
> find is, since cron doesn't serialize the jobs, and since anacron does
> have such an option, and since these jobs got to be serialized, then the
> responsibility to drive cron.xxxly jobs has been taken from cron (which
> has the ability to trigger at exact times) and given to anacron (which has
> the ability to trigger at intervals).

Your obsession with serialization is leading you astray. I think you
need to read the description of anacron, and think about the *real*
reason anacron is running those jobs. It's got nothing to do with
serialization, and everything to do with machines that are not running
24x7.

> because cron.xxxly jobs, by definition, has got to be run at exact
> precise times

Why? The term "weekly" is not an precise time description. There is no
need for weekly jobs and monthly jobs to be in some sort of sync. If
there were, then the fact that 3 times out of 4 (or 4 out of 5) the
monthly job doesn't run after the weekly job would be some sort of
issue. But it isn't.

> Anacron is meant to be a fallback mechanism, it is a fallback
> mechanism, and it should be used as such. Using it as a primary means
> for any scheduling is a misuse, and invites unforeseen slip offs,
> IMHO.

Perhaps there are reasons for the current setup. Perhaps the cron
and anacron maintainers aren't idiots. (Well, at least the anacron
maintainer.)

Cron and anacron have to be able to work together. The current setup
is designed to keep them from stepping on each other, and running jobs
multiple times.  We've *thought* about this.

> So, I would like to improve on my original proposition, and I now propose
> that anacron should only be used as a fallback mechanism, and cron.xxxly
> should be given under cron's sole control, and a means (other than
> anacron) should be employed to serialize cron.xxxly jobs.

No. You've invented a requirement that doesn't exist. If you want to do
something useful, go work on fcron so that it is a drop-in replacement
for cron, and can we can use it instead of the anacron-cron combo.

Steve

-- 
Steve Greenland
    The irony is that Bill Gates claims to be making a stable operating
    system and Linus Torvalds claims to be trying to take over the
    world.       -- seen on the net