Using dbus-send in Cron

Question

I want to setup a cron job to lock my session every day at three PM. When I enter dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.gnome.ScreenSaver /org/gnome/ScreenSaver org.gnome.ScreenSaver.Lock in a terminal window, the session locks immediately, but when I do the same in crontab (even by using a BASH script) it didn't work. I want to create a BASH script to lock the session using dbus-send and add it to crontab.

I think the problem is In the terminal you are locking your screen. In Cron or systemd you are locking root's screen. — WinEunuuchs2Unix, Aug 04 '20 at 11:19
Does this answer your question? How can I show notify-send messages triggered by crontab? More explanations are available at https://github.com/pa4080/cron-gui-launcher — pa4080, Aug 04 '20 at 11:33

score 0 · Answer 1 · 2020-08-05T00:21:29.520

Using loginctl to lock your desktop screen from crontab.

/opt/bin/lock-session.sh:

#!/bin/bash
crontab -e
min hour dom month dow command
0 15 * * * /bin/bash -c /opt/bin/lock-session.sh
Display     (is the first value of Sessions).
Sessions    (array of sessions).
property=Sessions
for session in $(loginctl show-user $USER -p $property --value); do
    [[ 

    $(loginctl show-session $session -p Desktop --value) ]] && loginctl lock-session $session
done
exit 0

Using dbus-send in Cron

1 Answers1

crontab -e

min hour dom month dow command

0 15 * * * /bin/bash -c /opt/bin/lock-session.sh

Display (is the first value of Sessions).

Sessions (array of sessions).