Mike McClain wrote: > ... and haven't seen any way to get files in /etc/cron.d/ run at > specific times. The format of the /etc/cron.d/ files is the same format as the /etc/crontab. Whatever lines you would put into /etc/crontab you would simply put into a file in /etc/cron.d instead. No difference. For example a /etc/cron.d/local-myscript file: # Run mylocalscript every hour. 0 17 * * * root /usr/local/bin/mylocalscript > I can see how /etc/cron.d/ helps developers who want their packages > cron jobs run but don't see how it would benefit me who have physical > access to the hardware. I don't see how physical access to the hardware changes things. The advantage is that upon system upgrades any changes to /etc/crontab will need to be merged. Local changes and system changes are both to the same file. When dpkg encounters this it will prompt you with what to about the merge. It is fairly easy to edit the file then and fix things up appropriately. But if a /etc/cron.d/local-myscript file is used instead then there is never a conflict and no merging is needed. It is completely automatic and hands-off in that case. So in summary the advantage is that it avoids manual interaction. It avoids needing to merge local changes with system changes. It is simply easier that way. Bob
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