Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help 
FCRON(8)							      FCRON(8)

NAME
       fcron - daemon to execute scheduled tasks

SYNOPSIS
       fcron [ -c file ] [ -d ]	[ -b ] [ -s time ] [ -m	num ] [	-q num ]

       fcron [ -c file ] [ -d ]	[ -f ] [ -o ] [	-y ] [ -p file ] [ -l time ]

       fcron [ -n dir ]

       fcron [ -h ]

       fcron [ -V ]

DESCRIPTION
       Fcron  should  be started from /etc/rc.d	or /usr/local/etc/rc.d.	Unless
       the -f (or --foreground)	option is given, it will  return  immediately,
       so you don't need to start it with '&'.

       Fcron  loads  users  fcrontabs  (see  fcrontab(5)) files	previously in-
       stalled by fcrontab (see	fcrontab(1)). Then, fcron calculates the  time
       and  date  of each job's	next execution,	and determines how long	it has
       to sleep, and sleeps for	this amount of time.  When  it	wakes  up,  it
       checks all jobs loaded and runs them if needed. When a job is executed,
       fcron  forks,  changes its user and group permissions to	match those of
       the user	the job	is being done for, executes that  job  and  mails  the
       outputs to the user (this can be	changed: see fcrontab(5)).

       Informative  message  about  what fcron is doing	are sent to syslogd(8)
       under facility cron, priority notice. Warning and  error	 messages  are
       sent respectively at priority warning and error.

	      Note: fcron sleeps at least 20 seconds after it has been started
	      before executing a job to	avoid to use too much resources	during
	      system boot.

OPTIONS
       -f

       --foreground
	      Don't  fork  to  the background. In this mode, fcron will	output
	      informational message to standard	error as well as to syslogd.

       -b

       --background
	      Force running in background, even	if fcron has been compiled  to
	      run in foreground	as default.

       -s time

       --savetime time
	      Save fcrontabs on	disk every time	sec (default is	1800).

       -m num

       --maxserial num
	      Set  to  num the maximum number of serial	jobs which can run si-
	      multaneously. By default,	this value is set to 1.

	      See also:	option serial in fcrontab(5).

       -q num

       --queuelen num
	      Set to n the number of jobs the serial queue and the lavg	 queue
	      can contain.

       -c file

       --configfile file
	      Make  fcron  use config file file	instead	of default config file
	      /usr/local/etc/fcron.conf. To interact with that	running	 fcron
	      process,	fcrontab  must	use the	same config file (which	is de-
	      fined  by	 fcrontab's  option  -c).  That	 way,  several	 fcron
	      processes	 can  run  simultaneously  on an only system (but each
	      fcron process *must* have	a different spool  dir	and  pid  file
	      from the other processes).

       -o

       --once Execute  all  jobs  that	need  to  be run at the	time fcron was
	      started, wait for	them, then return. Sets	--sleeptime to 0.  May
	      be especially useful when	used with  options  -y	and  -f	 in  a
	      script run, for instance,	at dialup connection.

	      See also:	fcrontab's options volatile, stdout.

       -y

       --nosyslog
	      Don't  log to syslog at all. May be useful when running in fore-
	      ground.

       -p file

       --logfilepath file
	      If set, log to the file given as argument.  fcron	 will  log  to
	      both that	file and syslog	in parallel unless -y is also set.

       -l time

       --firstsleep time
	      Sets  the	initial	delay (in seconds) before any job is executed,
	      default to 20 seconds.

       -n dir

       --newspooldir dir
	      Create dir as a new spool	directory for fcron. Set correctly its
	      mode and owner. Then, exit.

       -h

       --help Display a	brief description of the options.

       -V

       --version
	      Display an informational message about fcron, including its ver-
	      sion and the license under which it is distributed.

       -d

       --debug
	      Run in debug mode	(more details on stderr	-- if option -f	is set
	      -- and in	log file)

RETURN VALUES
       Fcron returns 0 on normal exit, and 1 on	error.

SIGNALS
       SIGTERM
	      Save configuration (time remaining until	next  execution,  time
	      and  date	of next	execution, etc), wait for all running jobs and
	      exit.

       SIGUSR1
	      Force fcron to reload its	configuration.

       SIGUSR2
	      Make fcron print its current schedule on syslog. It also toggles
	      on/off the printing on debug info	on syslog.

       SIGHUP Tell fcron to check if there is any configuration	 update	 (this
	      signal is	used by	fcrontab(5))

CONFORMING TO
       Should be POSIX compliant.

FILES
       /usr/local/etc/fcron.conf
	      Configuration  file  for	fcron, fcrontab	and fcrondyn: contains
	      paths (spool dir,	pid file) and default programs to use (editor,
	      shell, etc). See fcron.conf(5) for more details.

       /usr/local/etc/fcron.allow
	      Users allowed to use fcrontab and	fcrondyn (one name  per	 line,
	      special name "all" acts for everyone)

       /usr/local/etc/fcron.deny
	      Users  who  are  not  allowed to use fcrontab and	fcrondyn (same
	      format as	allow file)

       /usr/local/etc/pam.d/fcron (or /usr/local/etc/pam.conf)
	      PAM configuration	file for fcron.	Take a look at pam(8) for more
	      details.

SEE ALSO
       fcrontab(1),

       fcrondyn(1),

       fcrontab(5),

       fcron.conf(5),

       fcron(8).

       If you're learning how to use fcron from	scratch, I  suggest  that  you
       read  the HTML version of the documentation (if your are	not reading it
       right now! :) ):	the content is the same, but it	is easier to  navigate
       thanks to the hyperlinks.

AUTHOR
       Thibault	Godouet	<fcron@free.fr>

06/26/2016			 26 June 2016			      FCRON(8)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=fcron&sektion=8&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+14.3.quarterly>

home | help