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[ Source: cron  ]

Package: cron (3.0pl1-100)

management of regular background processing

cron is a background process (`daemon') that runs programs at regular intervals (for example, every minute, day, week or month); which processes are run and at what times are specified in the `crontab'.

Users may also install crontabs so that processes are run on their behalf, though this feature can be disabled or restricted to particular users.

Output from the commands is usually mailed to the system administrator (or to the user in question); you should probably install a mail system as well so that you can receive these messages.

This cron package is configured by default to do various standard system maintenance tasks, such as ensuring that logfiles do not grow endlessly and overflow the disk.

The lockfile-progs package is only a "Suggests" because of the poor way that dselect handles "Recommends", but I do strongly suggest that you install it; it prevents /etc/cron.daily/standard from running multiple times if something gets jammed.

Tags: System Administration: Automation and Scheduling, Implemented in: C, User Interface: Daemon, Role: Program, Scope: Utility

Packages providing cron

bcron-run
Bruce's cron system

Other Packages Related to cron

  • depends
  • recommends
  • suggests
  • dep: adduser
    Add and remove users and groups
  • dep: debianutils (>= 1.7)
    Miscellaneous utilities specific to Debian
  • dep: libc6 (>= 2.3.5-1) [not alpha, i386, ia64]
    GNU C Library: Shared libraries
    also a virtual package provided by libc6-udeb
    dep: libc6 (>= 2.3.6-6) [i386]
  • dep: libc6.1 (>= 2.3.5-1) [alpha, ia64]
    GNU C Library: Shared libraries
    also a virtual package provided by libc6.1-udeb
  • dep: libpam0g (>= 0.76)
    Pluggable Authentication Modules library
  • dep: libselinux1 (>= 1.32)
    SELinux shared libraries
  • dep: lsb-base (>= 3.0-10)
    Linux Standard Base 3.1 init script functionality
  • sug: anacron (>= 2.0-1)
    cron-like program that doesn't go by time
  • sug: checksecurity
    basic system security checks
  • sug: lockfile-progs
    Programs for locking and unlocking files and mailboxes
  • sug: logrotate
    Log rotation utility

Download cron

Download for all available architectures
Architecture Package Size Installed Size Files
alpha 87.1 kB332 kB [list of files]
amd64 80.9 kB308 kB [list of files]
arm 75.6 kB296 kB [list of files]
hppa 81.3 kB304 kB [list of files]
i386 76.6 kB296 kB [list of files]
ia64 96.3 kB376 kB [list of files]
mips 83.0 kB316 kB [list of files]
mipsel 82.9 kB316 kB [list of files]
powerpc 82.0 kB308 kB [list of files]
s390 80.6 kB304 kB [list of files]
sparc 77.1 kB296 kB [list of files]