find not working correctly in cron
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We have a regular job on a server that creates some files in /tmp and doesn't delete them after it is done. For reasons I don't want to get into, we can't modify the job to delete the files. So I was thinking to create a cronjob that deletes those files regularly. To not interfere with running jobs, it should delete only files that are older than a day. I came up with the following command:
find /tmp/myprefix* -mtime +1 -delete
This works just fine if I test it in a terminal so I scheduled it with cron:
0 1 * * * find /tmp/myprefix* -mtime +1 -delete
Now if this runs at 1 AM, it seems to ignore the -mtime parameter and deletes all files starting with myprefix, thus interfering with the running job.
Does anyone have an idea why this is happening?
As a remark: Since the job only runs at night, my tests where all performed while no jobs where running. I just checked that the files from last nights finished job remain. Maybe that's the reason and the modifiy time of the file is set in a strange way while the file is still written on?
I know the obvious solution would be to schedule the cleanup during the day but I'm still interested in the cause of my problem.
EDIT
According to Kusalanandas suggestion I changed the cron entry for last night to:
0 1 * * * find /tmp/myprefix* -mtime +1 -ls > /tmp/find.out
The file /tmp/find.out is empty this morning. This is expected behaviour since there were no files old enough. But according to past observations, if I had run this with -delete the "too young" files would have been deleted.
find cron
asked yesterday
André Stannek
4931514
|
show 3 more comments
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
We have a regular job on a server that creates some files in /tmp and doesn't delete them after it is done. For reasons I don't want to get into, we can't modify the job to delete the files. So I was thinking to create a cronjob that deletes those files regularly. To not interfere with running jobs, it should delete only files that are older than a day. I came up with the following command:
find /tmp/myprefix* -mtime +1 -delete
This works just fine if I test it in a terminal so I scheduled it with cron:
0 1 * * * find /tmp/myprefix* -mtime +1 -delete
Now if this runs at 1 AM, it seems to ignore the -mtime parameter and deletes all files starting with myprefix, thus interfering with the running job.
Does anyone have an idea why this is happening?
As a remark: Since the job only runs at night, my tests where all performed while no jobs where running. I just checked that the files from last nights finished job remain. Maybe that's the reason and the modifiy time of the file is set in a strange way while the file is still written on?
I know the obvious solution would be to schedule the cleanup during the day but I'm still interested in the cause of my problem.
EDIT
According to Kusalanandas suggestion I changed the cron entry for last night to:
0 1 * * * find /tmp/myprefix* -mtime +1 -ls > /tmp/find.out
The file /tmp/find.out is empty this morning. This is expected behaviour since there were no files old enough. But according to past observations, if I had run this with -delete the "too young" files would have been deleted.
find cron
asked yesterday
André Stannek
4931514
Can you view the associated log, e.g. viajournalctl -r --unit=cronie.service?
– Rastapopoulos
yesterday
As a way of debugging this, make it not delete the files and use-lsin place of-delete. Then investigate the output (this would be mailed to the owner of the cronjob if the system is sanely configured) and compare the modification timestamp against the time the job was run.
– Kusalananda
yesterday
@Rastapopoulos there are no entries in the log
– André Stannek
yesterday
@Kusalananda I've set it up with-lsfor tonight. Will get back to you tomorrow.
– André Stannek
yesterday
@Kusalananda see my edit. It's getting stranger...
– André Stannek
17 hours ago
|
show 3 more comments
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
We have a regular job on a server that creates some files in /tmp and doesn't delete them after it is done. For reasons I don't want to get into, we can't modify the job to delete the files. So I was thinking to create a cronjob that deletes those files regularly. To not interfere with running jobs, it should delete only files that are older than a day. I came up with the following command:
find /tmp/myprefix* -mtime +1 -delete
This works just fine if I test it in a terminal so I scheduled it with cron:
0 1 * * * find /tmp/myprefix* -mtime +1 -delete
Now if this runs at 1 AM, it seems to ignore the -mtime parameter and deletes all files starting with myprefix, thus interfering with the running job.
Does anyone have an idea why this is happening?
As a remark: Since the job only runs at night, my tests where all performed while no jobs where running. I just checked that the files from last nights finished job remain. Maybe that's the reason and the modifiy time of the file is set in a strange way while the file is still written on?
I know the obvious solution would be to schedule the cleanup during the day but I'm still interested in the cause of my problem.
EDIT
According to Kusalanandas suggestion I changed the cron entry for last night to:
0 1 * * * find /tmp/myprefix* -mtime +1 -ls > /tmp/find.out
The file /tmp/find.out is empty this morning. This is expected behaviour since there were no files old enough. But according to past observations, if I had run this with -delete the "too young" files would have been deleted.
find cron
asked yesterday
André Stannek
4931514
We have a regular job on a server that creates some files in /tmp and doesn't delete them after it is done. For reasons I don't want to get into, we can't modify the job to delete the files. So I was thinking to create a cronjob that deletes those files regularly. To not interfere with running jobs, it should delete only files that are older than a day. I came up with the following command:
find /tmp/myprefix* -mtime +1 -delete
This works just fine if I test it in a terminal so I scheduled it with cron:
0 1 * * * find /tmp/myprefix* -mtime +1 -delete
Now if this runs at 1 AM, it seems to ignore the -mtime parameter and deletes all files starting with myprefix, thus interfering with the running job.
Does anyone have an idea why this is happening?
As a remark: Since the job only runs at night, my tests where all performed while no jobs where running. I just checked that the files from last nights finished job remain. Maybe that's the reason and the modifiy time of the file is set in a strange way while the file is still written on?
I know the obvious solution would be to schedule the cleanup during the day but I'm still interested in the cause of my problem.
EDIT
According to Kusalanandas suggestion I changed the cron entry for last night to:
0 1 * * * find /tmp/myprefix* -mtime +1 -ls > /tmp/find.out
The file /tmp/find.out is empty this morning. This is expected behaviour since there were no files old enough. But according to past observations, if I had run this with -delete the "too young" files would have been deleted.
find cron
find cron
asked yesterday
André Stannek
4931514
asked yesterday
André Stannek
4931514
edited 17 hours ago
asked yesterday
André Stannek
4931514
asked yesterday
André Stannek
4931514
asked yesterday
André Stannek
4931514
4931514
Can you view the associated log, e.g. viajournalctl -r --unit=cronie.service?
– Rastapopoulos
yesterday
As a way of debugging this, make it not delete the files and use-lsin place of-delete. Then investigate the output (this would be mailed to the owner of the cronjob if the system is sanely configured) and compare the modification timestamp against the time the job was run.
– Kusalananda
yesterday
@Rastapopoulos there are no entries in the log
– André Stannek
yesterday
@Kusalananda I've set it up with-lsfor tonight. Will get back to you tomorrow.
– André Stannek
yesterday
@Kusalananda see my edit. It's getting stranger...
– André Stannek
17 hours ago
|
show 3 more comments
Can you view the associated log, e.g. viajournalctl -r --unit=cronie.service?
– Rastapopoulos
yesterday
As a way of debugging this, make it not delete the files and use-lsin place of-delete. Then investigate the output (this would be mailed to the owner of the cronjob if the system is sanely configured) and compare the modification timestamp against the time the job was run.
– Kusalananda
yesterday
@Rastapopoulos there are no entries in the log
– André Stannek
yesterday
@Kusalananda I've set it up with-lsfor tonight. Will get back to you tomorrow.
– André Stannek
yesterday
@Kusalananda see my edit. It's getting stranger...
– André Stannek
17 hours ago
Can you view the associated log, e.g. via
journalctl -r --unit=cronie.service?– Rastapopoulos
yesterday
Can you view the associated log, e.g. via
journalctl -r --unit=cronie.service?– Rastapopoulos
yesterday
As a way of debugging this, make it not delete the files and use
-ls in place of -delete. Then investigate the output (this would be mailed to the owner of the cronjob if the system is sanely configured) and compare the modification timestamp against the time the job was run.– Kusalananda
yesterday
As a way of debugging this, make it not delete the files and use
-ls in place of -delete. Then investigate the output (this would be mailed to the owner of the cronjob if the system is sanely configured) and compare the modification timestamp against the time the job was run.– Kusalananda
yesterday
@Rastapopoulos there are no entries in the log
– André Stannek
yesterday
@Rastapopoulos there are no entries in the log
– André Stannek
yesterday
@Kusalananda I've set it up with
-ls for tonight. Will get back to you tomorrow.– André Stannek
yesterday
@Kusalananda I've set it up with
-ls for tonight. Will get back to you tomorrow.– André Stannek
yesterday
@Kusalananda see my edit. It's getting stranger...
– André Stannek
17 hours ago
@Kusalananda see my edit. It's getting stranger...
– André Stannek
17 hours ago
|
show 3 more comments
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Can you view the associated log, e.g. via
journalctl -r --unit=cronie.service?– Rastapopoulos
yesterday
As a way of debugging this, make it not delete the files and use
-lsin place of-delete. Then investigate the output (this would be mailed to the owner of the cronjob if the system is sanely configured) and compare the modification timestamp against the time the job was run.– Kusalananda
yesterday
@Rastapopoulos there are no entries in the log
– André Stannek
yesterday
@Kusalananda I've set it up with
-lsfor tonight. Will get back to you tomorrow.– André Stannek
yesterday
@Kusalananda see my edit. It's getting stranger...
– André Stannek
17 hours ago