Could it be that the perl-scripts cannot include the "master library" because they're started by cron, not by the httpd and have a different current working directory. Did you require the library with an absolute path or just
require "master.lib.pl"; ?

Hi, yes I require the 'master library' with an absolute path. It works from the command line, terminal and httpd. Just not in cron. It feels like the scripts 'forget' to transfer the global values to eachother.

Btw, all scripts and libraries are it the same directory but I need to read and write a lot from and in different directories so I need to chdir a lot!

Ton

mh, so it requires the library and succeeds but does not correctly run the code in there?

can you break it down to a minimal test case that still works the way the big thing works but can be posted here?

Hi,

here is the main script: cron-test

# start -------------------------

#!/opt/local/bin/perl -w

$Err_Mess = "";

if ((!do "lib-set-globals.pl")) {
$Err_Mess = qq(Missing library 'lib-set-globals.pl');
}

print "$Perl_Doc_Dir/mydir/mysubdir";

print "\nDone!";

exit;

# end -------------------------

And the library: lib-set-globals.pl

# start -------------------------

$Perl_Doc_Dir = qq(/Library/WebServer/Documents/my_directory); # Path for Perl to http docs

# end -------------------------

Output from terminal or editor:
/Library/WebServer/Documents/my_directory/mydir/mysubdir
Done!

Output from cron:
/mydir/mysubdir
Done!

Cheers,

Ton

mh, "do" won't throw an error if it cannot open the file it is told to load, which could fail because the file does not exist or the user running the script does not have the necessary access privileges (which could already be the solution to your problem).
try require instead of do, it will die with an error message unless it can execute the code in the file.

All fille permissions are okidoki. I tried the require method instead of 'do' but that doesn't doe the job;-( Btw, "do" does throw an error in my setup;-)

#!/opt/local/bin/perl -w

print "\nStart\n";
require "lib-set-globals.pl";
print "$Perl_Doc_Dir/mydir/mysubdir";
print "\nEnd\n";
exit;

Output:
nothing at all!

----------------------------------------

#!/opt/local/bin/perl -w

print "\nStart\n";
do "lib-set-globals.pl";
print "$Perl_Doc_Dir/mydir/mysubdir";
print "\nEnd\n";
exit;

Output:
Start
/mydir/mysubdir
End

Ton

yes I require the 'master library' with an absolute path.

Is this it? If so, doesn't appear you do, but in any case try changing

require "lib-set-globals.pl";

to

require "/full/system/path/to/lib-set-globals.pl";

When your cron is run, it may not be running the program from the local directory of the script.

Well, that is the problem, please read my first post. I want to use 1 'master library for 'global' environment settings. I am going to sell the project and the customer should be able to set all desired parameters for the website, company, scripts locations, path names, you name it from only 1 place.

Cron does not recognize globals I pass through, command line, terminal, Perl editor and httpd DO!

Cheers,

Ton

I did, and still think your problem is in the require. Case in point,

Output:
nothing at all!

Not even a warning from -w? Or anything in the error log? (Which may not record an error if run via cmd line or cron . . . ) At the very least you should get an error to STDOUT if not found, or the Start and End. But no output at all is odd.

Can you access any cron logs on your server? Might give a clue.

I notice you're using chdir, maybe it's related to that; you shouldn't need a process to change directory in most cases and maybe this is mucking up the works.

Your globals have to come from *somewhere* and the include line needs to point to the full path of the global include to get them, doesn't matter where on your system it executes, or by what, httpd, cmd, or cron. Maybe what you can do in distributing the programs is create an install script that writes the full path for you from source files.

Thanx rocknbil, I will think about it. I am trying to make the product as easy as possible by using just 1 config file. For now I will just continue working and debugging because it is just the cron jobs that are failing. I am sure I will find the problem soon or later.

Thanx all;-)

Ton

maybe i missed it in one of your posts but on what OS are you trying this?

Hiya, working on OS X

Cheers,

Ton

what you are describing (a limited set of environment variables) is the defined behavior for cron in most *nix-like systems and i assume for OS X as well.
you might consider looking into launchd for your purposes.

[edited by: phranque at 7:46 pm (utc) on Aug. 21, 2009]

what you are describing (a limited set of environment variables) is the defined behavior for cron in most #nix-like systems and i assume for OS X as well.
you might consider looking into launchd for your purposes.

I don't think that's the issue. He seems to be storig his configuration in a simple perl-file where he just sets some variables and requires (or "do"es) this file from all of his scripts (probably not using strict). I still think it's a path-issue and the error-mails from cron just don't get through.

#!/opt/local/bin/perl -w

print "\nStart\n";
require "lib-set-globals.pl";
print "$Perl_Doc_Dir/mydir/mysubdir";
print "\nEnd\n";
exit;

---

Where are you setting the CWD?

require "lib-set-globals.pl";

How is that file even being found? Cron will call it from root (or etc). You have to call that with an abs path. The webserver will set the root of the site to the CWD when it calls the screen. A cron job will set the CWD to something else.

Hiya, in all cron scripts I have set my header like this:

#!/opt/local/bin/perl -w

use DBI;
use Cwd;
use CGI qw(:all);
use LWP::Simple qw(get);
use Net::SMTP;
use Time::HiRes qw(gettimeofday);

Cheers,

Tob

maybe changing that to

#!/opt/local/bin/perl -w
use DBI;
use Cwd;
use CGI qw(:all);
use LWP::Simple qw(get);
use Net::SMTP;
use Time::HiRes qw(gettimeofday); 
use FindBin::Real;
chdir(FindBin::Real::Bin());

will get rid of your problem. It's not the "right" way to do it, but it'll probably let you continue in the way you're working now.

Ya, you still have to chdir into the right directory for that script. It isn't finding it.

Hi, Brett, do you mean that even if cron launched the first script from the root directory I need to tell Cron to launch my 'lib-set-globals.pl' from the same directory using Cwd?

Ton

Not sure Parrot. I may be understanding where you have paths. Sure sounds like a path issue.

To figure out what is going on - create a couple quick test scripts that get called from cron. Have them write a log file of what the current cwd is. Then put them in you same directories, set your con to something low like every minute and wait. Tweak it to suit.

My first thought was detect if it's a cron job. I haven't tested this, but did a little research and it appears the cron job would have no $ENV(REMOTE_ADDR) value set, you could throw some code in the scripts to detect if it's a cron job or not, then pick from the paths you've specified in the "globals" file, e.g.-

lib-set-globals.pl contains-

#
$pathFromRoot1 = '/server/123/abc/user/images/';
$relativePath1 = '/images/';
#

then, all scripts contain-

if ($ENV{REMOTE_ADDR} eq "") {
$thePath = "$pathFromRoot1";
} else {
$thePath = "$relativePath1";
}