I ran into trouble with cron. I need to run task on my desktop but the thing is I can't guarantee that my computer will be turned on in specified time.
For example I need to execute task weakly
If I specify
* * * * 6 user my_very_useful_task
my_very_useful_task will be executed every minute on Sunday but I need only once
If I specify
0 9 * * 6 user my_very_useful_task
my_very_useful_task will be executed in 9:00 AM, but I can't guarantee that computer will be turned on in this time
Use anacron. From the man anacron page:
Anacron can be used to execute commands periodically, with a frequency
specified in days. Unlike cron(8), it does not assume that the machine
is running continuously. Hence, it can be used on machines that aren't
running 24 hours a day, to control daily, weekly, and monthly jobs that
are usually controlled by cron.
You can find a concise introduction here. At any rate, modify the /etc/anacrontab file as follows: create a line with this format
period delay job-identifier command
Period is how often you want the job to run, acceptable values are 1 (daily), 7 (weekly), N (= every N days); delay is the time in minutes after boot the job has to wait before being executed; job-identifier is a file in the directory /var/spool/anacron where a record of the last execution of the command will be kept. Lastly command is the command you want to execute.
An example of a line in /etc/anacron is
1 10 test.daily /home/my_name/bin/my_command
This will execute the command /home/my_name/bin/my_command daily (the option 1), leaving a record of its execution in /var/spool/anacron/test.daily, and, if at the time of the execution the pc is odwn, it will wait for 10 minutes after the next boot up to execute the command.
