Help with cronjob/shell script

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May 29th, 2006, 05:19 PM

smoked1

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Help with cronjob/shell script

I have a shell script that I am tring to call from root's crontab. For some reason it is not working. The error seems to be: "Unknown command." The shell script is located in /. Here is the crontab entry.

59 23 * * * cd /; ./ftp_smarter.c

I have also tried /bin/sh ../ftp_smarter.c

Here is the shell script:

Code:

#!/bin/sh
HOST='hostname'
USER='username'
PASSWD='password'
FILE='grab.txt'

cd /home/price
/usr/bin/pftp -n $HOST <<END_SCRIPT
quote USER $USER
quote PASS $PASSWD
put $FILE
quit
END_SCRIPT
exit 0

May 29th, 2006, 06:22 PM

Ehlanna

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If you are wanting to execute ftp_smarter.c which is in the root directory then just use /ftp_smarter.c as the command - and make sure it is executable.

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May 29th, 2006, 06:54 PM

smoked1

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OK, I set that as the command but I am still getting the same error. Is there something wrong with my script? I have no problems running it from the cli.

May 29th, 2006, 07:14 PM

Ehlanna

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You have the same form of quotes around the follwing lines:

Code:

HOST='hostname'
USER='username'
PASSWD='password'
FILE='grab.txt'

What exactly are you trying to do with them? Did you mean to set some of the variables to the return value of a command? If it runs ok from command line then I would suggest that your PATH is not set up correctly in the script.

May 29th, 2006, 07:47 PM

smoked1

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My script now looks like this:

Code:

#!/bin/sh
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin             
HOST='hostname'
USER='username'
PASSWD='password'
FILE='grab.txt'

cd /home/price
pftp -n $HOST <<END_SCRIPT
quote USER $USER
quote PASS $PASSWD
put $FILE
quit
END_SCRIPT
exit 0

but I am still getting the exact same error? Should I try adding it to /etc/crontab to see if it works from there?

May 30th, 2006, 11:54 AM

Ehlanna

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It should not make much difference where it is (roots crontab or /etc/crontab). Do we know exactly what is casuing the error? Is there anything in roots mail?

May 30th, 2006, 11:39 PM

smoked1

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The error that I am posting here comes from root mail. I have also checked /var/log/messages .. and etc. but have found nothing that relates to my issue. I am sure that I am doing something wrong because from my experience user error is usually to blame

I just can't seem to figure out what I am doing wrong. I did try adding it to /etc/crontab just to see what happens and came up with nothing. Thanks very much for your help. If you come up with any more ideas please post them here.

May 31st, 2006, 02:57 AM

Scorpions4ever

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Try adding some echo statements to the script and see if they show up in the logs. That way you may be able to isolate where the problem is.

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May 31st, 2006, 05:10 PM

Ehlanna

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The use of echo for debugging is a good idea.
cron is normally, in my experience, a little friendlier with script errors which makes me continue to think it might be the actual crontab entry with the issue.

#10

June 14th, 2006, 12:07 PM

Maniac

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Did you ever get this working? If not try this it works great for me (FreeBSD 4.10 and 5.5):

Code:

#!/bin/sh

HOST="hostname"
USERNAME="username"
PASSWORD="password"
FILE="filename"

ftp -d -n -v $HOST <<!
quote user $USERNAME
quote pass $PASSWORD
passive on
prompt off
progress on
binary
put $FILE
ls
bye
!

This assumes you are using the supplied FreeBSD FTP server and you have the path set correctly in your crontab.

Help with cronjob/shell script

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