Script does not run under cron but runs manually

Question

I have a script that a developer wrote for me which performs various functions mainly related to ffmpeg. When I run the script manually using

sh /home/site/rawvids/encode.sh > /home/site/rawvids/log.txt

The script runs fine but when it runs through cron it fails with error code 127

Any ideas?

ls -l on the script shows:

-rwxrwxrwx 1 site nobody 3786 Jul 23 17:07 /home/site/rawvids/encode.sh*

a) different PATH used by cron? b) permissions on the script keeping cron from running it? — pb2q, Jul 26 '12 at 17:34
`ls -l /home/zavids/rawvids/encode.sh` and add the output to the question — pb2q, Jul 26 '12 at 17:55

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 26 '12 at 18:36

2

Error 127 means "command not found". It is likely that you run in the script some commands that are not in the of cron (you can see what cron's PATH is, if you look at /etc/crontab).

You can check your current PATH in the shell:

$ echo $PATH

And then copy this PATH to the beginning of the script:

PATH=...

Instead of ... you must write the line that you've got earlier (using echo $PATH).

Also check if you have shebang line #!/bin/sh at the beginning of the script. It is import if you start script without sh in the command line.

Also it would be great if you could show us the line from /etc/crontab that runs the script.

answered Jul 26 '12 at 18:36

Igor Chubin

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/usr/local/jdk/bin:/opt/jdk/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/root/bin – Michael Farah Jul 27 '12 at 08:40
Which part of that would I add to the beginning of the script? – Michael Farah Jul 27 '12 at 08:40
The shebang line is at the beginning of the script and the line from etc/crontab is as follows – Michael Farah Jul 27 '12 at 08:41
52 19 * * * sh /home/zavids/rawvids/encode.sh > /home/zavids/rawvids/log.txt – Michael Farah Jul 27 '12 at 08:41
This is the path in cron PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin – Michael Farah Jul 27 '12 at 08:43
If this line from `/etc/crontab`, it is incorrect. You must add username (`root` or `zavidis`) before the commandline; `52 19 * * * root sh ...` – Igor Chubin Jul 27 '12 at 08:44
Tried that and this time the script did not run and nothing was added to log file – Michael Farah Jul 27 '12 at 12:23
Cron entry looks as follows; 26 14 * * * root sh /home/zavids/rawvids/encode.sh > /home/zavids/rawvids/log.txt – Michael Farah Jul 27 '12 at 12:31
can you please add such string (just to check cron): `* * * * * root date >> /tmp/date.log` and check the file `/tmp/date.log`? – Igor Chubin Jul 27 '12 at 16:33
Sorry for the delay. I added that entry and the date.log file is empty – Michael Farah Jul 29 '12 at 07:49
That is strange. In what file have you add the line? – Igor Chubin Jul 29 '12 at 08:59
Yes, but there are many crontabs in system (global and users'). And they have different syntax. Did you add the line to `/etc/crontab` or to the users' crontab? – Igor Chubin Jul 29 '12 at 09:58
I logged in with root and then added it via crontab -e – Michael Farah Jul 29 '12 at 11:53
Then it is not `/etc/crontab`. Please run `crontab -e` and remove `root` from the line you've added. The line must look so: `* * * * * date >> /tmp/date.log` – Igor Chubin Jul 29 '12 at 14:19
Did that and now it's logging. Sun Jul 29 17:14:01 SAST 2012 – Michael Farah Jul 29 '12 at 15:14
Ok, super! Now can you please (1) write this line `sh /home/zavids/rawvids/encode.sh >> /home/zavids/rawvids/log.txt` instead of `date >> /tmp/date.log`? And (2) add this line `date >> /tmp/date.log` to the first line of the `/home/zavids/rawvids/encode.sh` just to check if the line will be executed (if it will, that means that script executes also). – Igor Chubin Jul 29 '12 at 22:22
Ok the date was added to date.log and nothing was writted to log.txt. Thanks for all your help btw :) – Michael Farah Jul 30 '12 at 08:16
Ok, that is super! That means that something is wrong with your script. Can you show it at pastebin for example? – Igor Chubin Jul 30 '12 at 08:45
Ok, the script is good; can you please also add `2>&1` to the end of the command: `sh /home/zavids/rawvids/encode.sh >> /home/zavids/rawvids/log.txt 2>&1` and check log.txt once again? – Igor Chubin Jul 30 '12 at 12:33
But please bear in mind running the script manually liked this before worked. It's only when it runs via cron that it does not work – Michael Farah Jul 30 '12 at 14:48
all works good as you can see; the results must be in `/home/zavids/www/vfiles` – Igor Chubin Jul 30 '12 at 15:12
Yes it works but not in cron. That's the problem. The script has always run manually but not in cron – Michael Farah Jul 30 '12 at 15:44
I mean that logs that you sent me, they were from script that was started from cron? – Igor Chubin Jul 30 '12 at 17:47
Please run the command `sh /home/zavids/rawvids/encode.sh >> /home/zavids/rawvids/log.txt 2>&1` from `cron`! – Igor Chubin Jul 31 '12 at 05:29
It worked this time. I was scratching my head as to why this should be and I realised that yesterday I changed the permissions on the source folder to 777 due to another issue I was having. Do you think this could have resolved it? – Michael Farah Jul 31 '12 at 10:47
yes it could, when the owner of the target directory is not the owner of the `crontab`. If it is the same, then not, there must be another reason. – Igor Chubin Jul 31 '12 at 10:51
I just had a proper look at the log file and it's still failing. Here is the output – Michael Farah Jul 31 '12 at 11:06
You will see that it looks as if the ffmpeg and mp4box commands cannot be found but only when run from cron – Michael Farah Jul 31 '12 at 11:07
can you please run `which ffmpeg` and say the result? – Igor Chubin Jul 31 '12 at 11:13
add `PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH` to the beginning of your script (to the second line). – Igor Chubin Jul 31 '12 at 11:28
let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/14683/discussion-between-michael-farah-and-igor-chubin) – Michael Farah Jul 31 '12 at 11:32
Just for anyone else viewing this question. Igor solved my problem by having me add PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH to the second line of the script – Michael Farah Jul 31 '12 at 12:27

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 26 '12 at 17:34

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Most likely you're either depending on an environment variable which isn't set for cron (I'm not sure if cron uses any?) or the permissions cron is running under are wrong. If you're piping the output like that in the cron version, does it get any output?

answered Jul 26 '12 at 17:34

Brendan Long

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I'm not really that experienced with cron or linux so don't know but I do get output as follows; – Michael Farah Jul 26 '12 at 17:35

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 17 '16 at 00:40

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same ..., well i just can stand these path issues , i set up a symbolic link to the ffprobe path or whatever is missing , something like

ln -s /usr/local/bin/ffprobe /home/ec2-user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.0/bin/ffprobe

answered Sep 17 '16 at 00:40

Alejandro Quintero

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Script does not run under cron but runs manually

3 Answers3

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