Bash script not executing from crontab

Question

I have the following bash script:

#!/bin/bash
mysqldump -u ******** -p********  --all-databases | gzip > /home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/database_$(date +\%Y-\%m-\%d).sql.gz

which is located in /home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/ as backup.sh with the following permissions

-rwxr--r-- 1 root       root           134 feb 27 12:48 backup.sh

I've set up a cronjob on sudo crontab -e to run it every day, at night

#Automatic MySQL backup
30 3 * * * sh /home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/backup.sh

But I get emailed the following error:

sh: 0: Can't open /home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/backup.sh

I've been trying different setups, but can't figure out what is wrong. I can run the script manually and everything goes perfectly, so I guess there is something wrong with my cronjob entry, but can't really understand what. Could you please help me figure it out? Thanks!

Can you try it using sudo: sudo sh /home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/backup.sh — Guru, Mar 06 '13 at 08:24
Do you tried to change owner? If you run this script as normal user, chown user:user /home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/backup.sh (replace user:user with your username and name of your user group). With that you can normaly run script as regular user. Also, if owner is root, do what @Guru saw, run script with sudo. — , Mar 06 '13 at 08:25
So, now I changed my script owner to srvlinux01 (main user) and moved the cronjob to crontab -e instead of sudo crontab -e.
Still no luck though, wierdly enough it still can't find the file. If I just copy the command and paste it into the terminal it runs normally and makes the backup! — Mateusz Kapusta, Mar 06 '13 at 08:35
Could it be that you need to give your cron a PATH? For instance: SHELL=/bin/sh PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin In your case, try putting: SHELL=/bin/sh PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/ before your command. — don.joey, Mar 06 '13 at 08:47
Why doesn't your backup.sh have execute permissions? Given that it is world readable, removing the x permissions for group and other is pointless as world could just do cat backup.sh | sh and achieve the same. Apart from, obviously, being able to simply read the username and password ... — zwets, Mar 06 '13 at 08:52
I've discovered that the server has home encryption enabled (sigh!) so i tried moving the script into a separate directory, but it still doesn't work. So looks like it is not the issue. I've tried changing the shebang but still no luck. — Mateusz Kapusta, Mar 06 '13 at 09:00
Brilliant! The PATH trick did the job! Could you just explain what it does so I can use it in the future? Maybe post is as an answer so I can mark it as correct! ;) — Mateusz Kapusta, Mar 06 '13 at 09:17
And thanks zwets, changed permissions, must have messed up while trying to make it work. — Mateusz Kapusta, Mar 06 '13 at 09:24
Could you try whether simple setting it to PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin already does the trick? Now I'm wondering... I moved the comment to an answer. — don.joey, Mar 06 '13 at 09:57
Please check this one https://askubuntu.com/a/1223213/297387 — Vadim, Apr 01 '20 at 16:15

score 19 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

19

You need to give your cron a PATH. For instance:

SHELL=/bin/sh PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin

In your case, try putting this before your command. Check the community wiki in this question for more information on why the PATH variable is needed. Here is an excerpt; essentially the idea is that cron does not read /etc/environment:

A common "gotcha" is the PATH environment variable being different. Maybe your cron script uses the command somecommand found in /opt/someApp/bin, which you've added to PATH in /etc/environment? cron does not read that file, so running somecommand from your script will fail when run with cron, but work when run in a terminal. To get around that, just set your own PATH variable at the top of the script.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

Community

1

answered Mar 06 '13 at 09:54

don.joey

28,662

1

I am getting this error "sh: 0: Can't open /root/scritps/cron_job.sh", when trying to execute sh file from cronjob like "/1 * * * sh /root/scritps/cron_job.sh >> /tmp/cron.output 2>&1".FYI: cron_job.sh doing echo only. any idea what is the issue here ? – Bipin Vayalu Jun 23 '14 at 16:25
scritps vs scripts? – GrayedFox Mar 15 '18 at 17:29
See this too - https://askubuntu.com/questions/264607/bash-script-not-executing-from-crontab#comment1987092_264741 – Manohar Reddy Poreddy Nov 13 '19 at 19:57

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 06 '13 at 15:15

9

chmod +x /home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/backup.sh

try to run your script with full path on commandline:

/home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/backup.sh

if it is not running - there is something wrong (path error)

Make sure this is your crontab

crontab -e

no sudo :

sudo crontab -e

is root crontab - and root is not able to find your script ;)

remove "sh" in crontab just write:

30 3 * * * /home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/backup.sh

answered Mar 06 '13 at 15:15

toe

281

Not "sudo crontab -e", but it is "crontab -e" is solution for my issue. Thank you – Manohar Reddy Poreddy Nov 13 '19 at 19:56

score 8 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 06 '13 at 10:46

8

I can see one mistake in your crontab file configuration. In the below config you are trying to call backup.sh as same as in your shell prompt with sh prefix which may not work in cron.

#Automatic MySQL backup
30 3 * * * sh /home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/backup.sh

Solution:

change the owner as said in comment, if needed.
Make it as executable.
```
chmod a+x <filename>
```
Update your crontab to reflect this. (calling the file directly, shell is used as per shebang line inside the file)
```
#Automatic MySQL backup
30 3 * * * /home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/backup.sh
```

I hope this would help.

edited Mar 06 '13 at 10:46

BuZZ-dEE

14,223

answered Mar 06 '13 at 10:30

Naha

91

1

chmod +x!! I forget to permit my script execution permissions. thanks for posting, @Naha – fusion27 Nov 01 '14 at 18:03

score -6 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 06 '13 at 08:19

-6

You forgot the dot '.' before the execution path.

30 3 * * * sh ./home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/backup.sh             
              ^

answered Mar 06 '13 at 08:19

OrangeTux

5,195
8
36
57

Hi, didn't change much, the error is the same unfortunately.
sh: 0: Can't open ./home/srvlinux01/MySQLBackups/backup.sh
– Mateusz Kapusta Mar 06 '13 at 08:23
3

./ makes a path relative to the current directory, which is not desirable here and will even prevent the script from running unless cron's CWD happens to be /. Also, the purpose of ./ before a script or other executable name is when it's in the current directory (instead of searching PATH). It's primarily used when running the executable as the command being executed (e.g., ./script), sometimes necessary (and often recommended) when "sourcing" (e.g., . ./script), but never useful when passing it as an argument to the shell (i.e., sh script always works as well as sh ./script). – Eliah Kagan Aug 09 '14 at 11:37

Bash script not executing from crontab

4 Answers4