do packages depend on lexical order or {daily,weekly,monthly} cron jobs?
Hi,
since cron uses run-parts to execute the scripts from
/etc/cron.{daily,weekly,monthly}, and run-parts is documented to
execute the contents from the directory in lexical sort-order,
packages could theoretically depend on a certain execution order of
cron jobs and fail miserably if the order is violated.
I am wondering whether there are packages that actually do depend on
that and how do find out short of unpacking the entire archive and
inspecting the scripts.
Scripts with such dependencies will probably fail miserably on systems
that are using systemd-cron instead of one of the "classic" cron
packaes since systemd will start all cron jobs in parallel, or if a
feature like RandomizeDelay (see man systemd.timer) is used to reduce
the impact in random order.
Do you people know about packages that have cron jobs that depend on
execution order? Would it probably be a good idea to proactively put
language into the Policy Manual Chapter 9.5 that scripts put into the
/etc/cron.{daily,weekly,monthly} MUST NOT depend on any execution
order and MUST be prepared to run in parallel?
Greetings
Marc
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Marc Haber | " Questions are the | Mailadresse im Header
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