Cron job running beyond interval

Question

Say you configure a cron job to run every minute to do something. What will happen if the actual task runs longer than a minute? Will cron create another job instance/thread? Or will cron wait and make sure the previous run is complete?

Thanks!

Does anyone know exactly what happens? I'd like to know. – Penguinator Aug 16 '13 at 23:08 — Penguinator, Aug 16 '13 at 23:08
Someone asked me this question in the job interview. Great! – Hamza Saeed Apr 10 '21 at 15:06 — Hamza Saeed, Apr 10 '21 at 15:06

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:06

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You must handle that scenario, not sure linux will handle it gracefully. By adding a simple check before running your task that the task is not already running. If you don't do that, hell will probably break loose on your server.

This post will help you Run cron job only if it isn't already running

edited May 23 '17 at 12:06

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answered Feb 20 '13 at 16:20

legrandviking

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Cron job running beyond interval

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