3.8. Software Collection cronjob Support

With your Software Collection, you can run periodic tasks on the system either with a dedicated service or with cronjobs. If you intend to use a dedicated service, refer to Section 3.4, “Managing Services in Software Collections” on how to work with initscripts in the Software Collection environment.

Procedure 3.8. Running periodic tasks with cronjobs

  1. To use cronjobs for running periodic tasks, place a crontab file for your Software Collection in the /etc/cron.d/ directory with the Software Collection's name.
    For example, create the following file: 
    %{?scl_prefix}crontab
  2. Ensure that the contents of the crontab file follow the standard crontab file format, as in the following example: 
    0 1 * * Sun root scl enable software_collection '/opt/provider/software_collection/root/usr/bin/cron_job_name'
    where software_collection is the name of your Software Collection, and /opt/provider/software_collection/root/usr/bin/cron_job_name is the command you want to periodically run.
  3. Add the file to your spec file of the Software Collection package: 
    SOURCE2: %{?scl_prefix}crontab
  4. Install the file into the system directory /etc/cron.d/ by adjusting the %install section of the Software Collection package's spec file: 
    %install
install -p -c -m 644 %{SOURCE2} $RPM_BUILD_ROOT%{?scl:%_root_sysconfdir}%{!?scl:%_sysconfdir}/cron.d/