Gnome-schedule doesn't execute scheduled tasks

[Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek]

Gnome-schedule doesn't execute scheduled tasks at all.

I made one, set it to be run every minute and put there a name of a script that I put in ~/bin directory. It haven't been run even once.

The command is OK - when I press a "Run task" button, the script is executed properly.

OS: Ubuntu 8.04.2
gnome-schedule: 2.0.2-0ubuntu1

Steps to reproduce:
1) put any command in gnome-schedule and set it to be run every minute
2) it won't run even once

[GauteHope (eg)]

Have you checked that at and crontab is set properly up; have a look at:

http://gaute.vetsj.com/2009/02/20/how-to-figure-out-if-crontab-and-at-is-correctly-set-up/

for some tips.

- gaute

[Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek (mgol)]

Yes, it's correctly set up (I have a slight different permissions, but I believe that's ok). The attached example works.

I realised that for some ways it doesn't honour my PATH value. If I enter a full path of the file, it's ok.

Unfortunately, any graphical application doesn't work with that, is that ok? (e.g. gnome-screenshot)

[Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek (mgol)]

As for the PATH thing - I think it should be fixed, I'd maybe understand if it didn't look at PATH at all, but it does as if I press a "Run tab" button it runs OK... There's a bit of inconsistency here.

[GauteHope (eg)]

Fixing the PATH variable would require major change in the way we handle crontab tasks. And I will spend my time fixing the other bugs and planned features rather than reimplementing this. If you or anyone else want to do some work on this I would be happy to support it, and include it if it turns out good.

- gaute

[Nixblicker (el-lunatico)]

Hello there,

i want to confirm this bug for the above mentioned version- starting my graphical app. via "Run Task" button works, but at the set up time it doesn't do it automatically.
I get this python message, when running gnome-schedule in terminal but i don't think its crucial:
"/usr/share/gnome-schedule/at.py:372: DeprecationWarning: os.popen3 is deprecated. Use the subprocess module.
  child_stdin, child_stdout, child_stderr = os.popen3(execute)"

Additionally, there is a frequent "no crontab for username" message, that is continued, after i set the one-time task up.
This is exactly what i get when i use "crontab -l"

Any progress with this issue?
I would love this nice piece of code to run and auto record tv shows with me-tv.

Cheers and Thanks for programming this,
Nix

[GauteHope (eg)]

Please check http://gaute.vetsj.com/2009/02/20/how-to-figure-out-if-crontab-and-at-is-correctly-set-up/ for how to check if crontab and at is correctly set up; read the comments as well - there are a few solutions there.

Are you sure you use gnome-schedule as the regular user ?

The command you try to run; is it a system wide program or a custom script ?

If the command shows up in gnome-schedule it has been added, are you trying to add a one-time task or a recurrent one?

One-time tasks are handled by at and you need to make sure it is working. See the page above.
Recurrent by crontab.

- gaute

[John Barley (strange-cathect)]

I'm having the same problem on a fresh install of Ubuntu 10.04.

I've been trying to get gnome-schedule to perform an automatic backup for me using grsync. However, gnome-schedule will not initiate any scheduled commands.

First, I wrote a script and tried to have gnome-schedule run it. I named a file "backup.sh" and told gnome-schedule where to find it. The script reads:

#!/bin/sh
grsync -e "Internal Backup";
touch test file location;

I can run the script in the terminal fine, but gnome-schedule won't seem to initiate it at the requested time.

After this failed I dispensed with the script file and just created a new task command that reads:

grsync -e "Internal Backup"

Again, I can ask gnome-schedule to run this task successfully by clicking "run task" but it will not run this as a scheduled event.

Help!

[GauteHope (eg)]

Hello,

What version of Gnome-schedule is this ?

Make sure you use the complete path to the script, ie not ~, but: /home/john/script

Does the script have the executable bit set (+x)?

For any of the above problems; if what you are trying to run, in John's case: grsync, is an graphical application you need to make sure that 'X application' in gnome-schedule has been chosen.

Is this a one-time or recurring task?

Are other tasks running fine? (both one-time and recurring ones)

As always; please make sure crontab and at is set up correctly: http://gaute.vetsj.com/2009/02/20/how-to-figure-out-if-crontab-and-at-is-correctly-set-up.html

- gaute

[Larry Tate (cathect)]

Gaute,

Thank you for your clue that I need to set this script as an "X application" in the set up of the task. That is EXACTLY what I had done wrong.

Just to let you know: your url you posted is broken...

Thank you for this great program.

[GauteHope (eg)]

Great! Yeah the first url is broken - the latest one from #8 is the correct one ;)

http://gaute.vetsj.com/2009/02/20/how-to-figure-out-if-crontab-and-at-is-correctly-set-up.html

- gaute

[Kathryn Jennings (katj)]

I'm having trouble too. I have looked at Gaute's link and was able to get at and cron to execute the test functions.

gnome schedule 2.1.1 with ubuntu 10.04
The command is /usr/bin/grsync -e "default". It is scheduled to run daily and is using the X application option.
The window doesn't show up and the test file that I made has not moved so I know that it hasn't run.
Everything works as expected when I hit the run icon.

Please tell me what other information I should give you so you can assist me.

BTW Gaute,
your page is helpful and easy to understand. nice.

Thanks,
Kathryn

[Kathryn Jennings (katj)]

OK, I learned how to use cron and something must be broken outside of gnome-schedule. So it is certainly not a bug with you guys.

-Kathryn

[GauteHope (eg)]

Hey,

Thanks- did you try adding:

  * * * * * echo "Does this work?" > ~/test

manually to your crontab and see if ~/test shows up ?

- gaute

[quadra (info06)]

Back to the original problem, as reported in post #3 and #7. The fact is that in many cases, we can successfully test a task by clicking "Run selected task", but then, in real life it won't run.
Two main technical reasons:
1) The test is PATH-aware, the real task (using cron) is not
2) The test is insensitive to the output mode ("Default" or "X application"), the real task is not

I think this is indeed a bug worth to be fixed.
At least, the message that appears when testing a task should be improved ("Note about working directory of executed tasks", it is confusing.) Additionally, the "Run selected task" function should be improved.

[Fabián Rodríguez (magicfab)]

I'd agree this is a usability issue, where the "Run selected task" option should fail gracefully with a clear indication on what to do.

Can someone also reproduce this in Maverick ?