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Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 10:07:29 -0400
From: "Pierre A. Humblet" <Pierre DOT Humblet AT ieee DOT org>
Subject: Re: cron - error starting a service
To: "David Rekas" <David DOT Rekas AT optus DOT com DOT au>,
   "Harig, Mark" <maharig AT idirect DOT net>, <cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Rekas" 
To: "Harig, Mark" ; "Pierre A. Humblet" ; cygwin
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 12:42 AM
Subject: RE: cron - error starting a service


Mark & Pierre, thanks for your advice. Please see below.

Mark:

$ /usr/bin/cron_diagnose.sh: This also did not find any errors. The
displayed version of this is 1.10. The revision in the source is 1.3
2004/12/21 16:14:4. Whereas the previous "older" version I was trying
before displays 1.8. Is my /usr/bin/cron_diagnose.sh really the latest
version?

Pierre:

# /etc/crontab: Cannot remove this or entries in this, since it doesn't
exist. (Is this "normal"?)
# /etc/cron.d: This directory is empty - is this what you meant?
# /var/cron/tabs/David Rekas: removed this crontab file, followed by
"cygrunsrv --start cron", however the usual "error starting a service"
came up.
# /var/log/cron.log: Have looked for this at various stages of the cron
installation/config/attempted starts/reinstallation, but have never seen
an instance. (Is this "normal"?)

In addition (1):

# Uninstalled the entire cron-3.0.1-19
# Reinstalled the entire cron-3.0.1-19 using Cygwin setup.exe from a
different mirror site
# Edited cron-config: enclosed "${USER}" and "$cron_table" in double
quotation marks
$ crontab -e: created new crontab
# Applied chmod and chgrp to relevant files/directories
$ cron-config: answered: [service: yes; yourself: no; ntsec: yes; start
yes]. This returned the same error.
$ /usr/bin/cron_diagnose.sh: This did not find any errors.
# /var/log/cron.log: does not exist

In addition (2):

# Created a new Windows user with no spaces in the name ("cygbatch"),
with administrative privileges. Updated passwd and group files, and
logged in as this user.
$ crontab -e: created new crontab
$ cron-config: answered: [service: yes; yourself: no; ntsec: yes; start
yes]. This returned the same error.
$ /usr/bin/cron_diagnose.sh: This did not find any errors.
# /var/log/cron.log: does not exist


Again, any further input into this case would be very appreciated. 

Thanks,

Dave

************************************************
I am stumped and can only suggest some debugging. Here are some ideas:

- Can you start cron running as yourself (option in cron-config) ?
  Remember, cron won't process users with spaces, but the daemon
  should keep running.

- Can you start anything under cygrunsrv? For example a bash script located
  in /usr/sbin that writes into some file in /var/log, sleeps for 10 s, then exits

- Run as SYSTEM. Ways to do that have been posted on the list. My usual way
  is to have inetd running with telnetd enabled. Temporarily clear the SYSTEM 
  password field in /etc/password and specify a home dir and a shell for SYSTEM, 
  then telnet into localhost as SYSTEM.
  Try to launch cron from the shell and see if there is any error message.

I will be away for the next 10 days, so don't expect feedback from me past this PM.

Pierre




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