this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
42 points (92.0% liked)
Linux
47572 readers
979 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
People suggesting legacy methods like cron, but the only valid answer for modern Linux distributions is to use a systemd timer in userspace.
You just set up a service (what should be done and how do you want it to be done) and a timer (when should it be done).
https://gist.github.com/oprypin/0f0c3479ab53e00988b52919e5d7c144
Why is cron not a good solution?
I didn't say it is not a good solution. It's a legacy solution replaced by systemd timers.
With systemd timers you're entirely more flexible and timers run much more reliable. You also get proper logging and you cleanly separate program execution and scheduling of program execution. And since timers aren't crammed all in one file line-by-line you can independently version them using Git or backup individual timer configurations.
If you don't care for that and don't really care if a job gets executed reliably and don't want to specify precisely when (on startup, on shutdown, specific time, repeatedly, etc.) a program is executed, just go with cron - you might need to install a cron daemon and set up the needed service in systemd first.