Shell script not working with crontab

Question

I have a script that scans all the directories and subdirectories for those with "RC" in their name and delete all older then 40 days but always leave the last one even if it is older than 40 days.

The problem I am heaving is that if I run the script by hand ./cronJob.sh it works as it should. But when I put it on a crontab list it does not delete directories, but only outputs two lines in log.

#!/bin/bash

datum=$(date -I)
MOUNTLOG=/var/log/softwareRC/

FIND=/bin/find;

deleteDir(){
    echo "-------- START $parent --------" >> $MOUNTLOG/$datum.log
    dname=$(/usr/bin/dirname $1)
    temp="${dname%\s.*}"
    temp=(${temp[@]})
    parent="${temp[0]}"
    dirNum="$($FIND $parent -maxdepth 1 -name *RC* -type d -print | wc -l)"
    najnovejsi="$($FIND $parent -maxdepth 1 -name *RC* -type d -print | sort | tail -n 1)"
    if [ $dirNum -gt 1 ]; then
            $FIND "$parent" -path "$najnovejsi" -prune -o -name *RC* -mtime +40 -print -exec rm -r "{}" \; >> $MOUNTLOG/$datum.log
    fi;
    echo "-------- END $parent --------" >> $MOUNTLOG/$datum.log
}

declare -i skipDir=1

while true
do
    oldest=$($FIND -type d -name *RC* -mtime +40 -printf '%T+ %p\n' | sort -r | tail -n $skipDir | head -n 1)
#       echo najstarejsi $oldest
    dironly=$(echo $oldest | cut -d' ' -f 2-)
    deleteDir "$dironly"

#       echo $skipDir $dironly
    /bin/sleep 1
    if [ "$dironly" = "$testna" ]; then
            break
    else
            testna=$(echo $oldest | cut -d' ' -f 2-)
            let "skipDir++"
    fi;
#       echo primerjava $testna
done

Crontab job

0 2 * * * /mnt/local/TempDrive/Software_RC/.cleanOld.sh

Log output

[root@SambaServer softwareRC]# cat 2017-03-11.log
-------- START  --------
-------- END  --------

jlliagre · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-11 09:16:23Z

1

Add this line to your script:

#!/bin/bash

exec > $MOUNTLOG/$datum.log 2>&1

datum=$(date -I)

If there is an error message from the shell or one of the executed commands, it will show up in the log file.

answered Mar 11, 2017 at 9:16

jlliagre

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1 Comment

Erik Morelj Over a year ago

I added this line as well and scheduled the job to run a minute from now. Thank you

Kanagaraj Dhanapal · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-11 11:38:43Z

1

0 2 * * * sh /mnt/local/TempDrive/Software_RC/cleanOld.sh

And check file permission and owner of the file

edited Mar 11, 2017 at 11:38

answered Mar 11, 2017 at 9:01

Kanagaraj Dhanapal

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3 Comments

Erik Morelj Over a year ago

I edited the crontab job. I will post if it worked on monday. Thank you for fast response.

Erik Morelj Over a year ago

Unfortunatelly I do not know how to test a cronjob before it is scheduled.

Kanagaraj Dhanapal Over a year ago

schedule it two minutes after from now.

Erik Morelj · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-30 09:07:04Z

Thank you very much for your help and sorry for late reply. I have figured out what was wrong.

The problem was in the below line. I had to enter the whole path to the location where the script is ran from.

Before:

oldest=$($FIND -type d -name *RC* -mtime +40 -printf '%T+ %p\n' | sort -r | tail -n $skipDir | head -n 1)

After:

oldest=$($FIND /mnt/local/TempDrive/Software_RC -type d -name *RC* -mtime +40 -printf '%T+ %p\n' | sort -r | tail -n $skipDir | head -n 1)

This is the working code.

#!/bin/bash

datum=$(date -I)
MOUNTLOG=/var/log/softwareRC/

exec > $MOUNTLOG/$datum.log 2>&1

FIND=/bin/find;

deleteDir(){
    echo "-------- START $parent --------" >> $MOUNTLOG/$datum.log
    dname=$(/usr/bin/dirname $1)
    temp="${dname%\s.*}"
    temp=(${temp[@]})
    parent="${temp[0]}"
    dirNum="$($FIND $parent -maxdepth 1 -name *RC* -type d -print | wc -l)"
    najnovejsi="$($FIND $parent -maxdepth 1 -name *RC* -type d -print | sort | tail -n 1)"
    if [ $dirNum -gt 1 ]; then
            $FIND "$parent" -path "$najnovejsi" -prune -o -name *RC* -mtime +40 -print -exec rm -r "{}" \; >> $MOUNTLOG/$datum.log
    fi;
    echo "-------- END $parent --------" >> $MOUNTLOG/$datum.log
}

declare -i skipDir=1

while true
do
    oldest=$($FIND /mnt/local/TempDrive/Software_RC -type d -name *RC* -mtime +40 -printf '%T+ %p\n' | sort -r | tail -n $skipDir | head -n 1)
    dironly=$(echo $oldest | cut -d' ' -f 2-)
    deleteDir "$dironly"

    /bin/sleep 1
    if [ "$dironly" = "$testna" ]; then
            break
    else
            testna=$(echo $oldest | cut -d' ' -f 2-)
            let "skipDir++"
    fi;
done

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