Hi, GNU mcron is a 100% Vixie compatible cron daemon that can also be
run on a per-user basis without setuid programs with many other useful
features. I'm looking for a sponsor to examine and upload my packaging
of mcron. My package is configured to completely replace the existing
cron package.
It may be said that Vixie cron isn't too bad and doesn't _need_ to be
replaced, or that we have other cron replacements in Debian already
and this one isn't needed. I disagree. My reasoning for packaging this
alternative is that Vixie cron is difficult to audit software,
i.e. there are clear security benefits from eliminating the
system-wide crontab spool directory and setuid programs used to
manipulate it. And the only other alternatives to Vixie cron currently
available in Debian are fcron, which does not fully replace Vixie
cron, and bcron, which also does not fully replace Vixie, has a very
non-standard architecture prohibiting adoption, and doesn't even have
a current maintainer.
I've uploaded to mentors.debian.net. Here is the info from the ITP:
* Package name : mcron
Version : 1.0.1
Upstream Author : Dale Mellor <bug-mcron@gnu.org>
* URL or Web page : http://www.gnu.org/software/mcron/
* License : GNU GPL
Description : Vixie cron replacement written in Guile.
Mellor's cron is a 100% compatible replacement for Vixie cron. It
supports Vixie cron's crontab files as well as a pure Scheme format
for far greater flexibility in specifying when jobs should be
run. Examples of specific features:
.
* Supports finer time-points, i.e. seconds.
* Times can be more or less regular, e.g. a job that runs every 17
hours or a job that runs on the first Sunday of every month.
* Times can be dynamic. Arbitrary Guile code can be provided to
compute the next time that a job should be run. This could, for
example, take system load into consideration.
* User's crontabs can stay in their own home directories and each
user can maintain multiple crontab files if desired.
* Each user can run the daemon for himself if desired, removing the
need for setuid programs to manipulate crontabs.
Thanks,
--
David D. Smith
A man without doubt is a monster.
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