i did something as simple as this:
crontab -e
* * * * * touch /home/alexis/hi.txt
crontab: installing new crontab
but it doesn't work at all; not mentioning more complicated scripts. any idea what went wrong?
The normal user-PATH isn't used, when running crontab.
Either you use the full path to touch (/usr/bin/touch
), or you set the PATH in the crontab file itself, if you need it multiple times.
/var/log/syslog contains a detailed log of cron activity. Since your cron is set to run every minute, the log should contain plenty of entries indicating exactly what went wrong. Checking that the PATH is set is one possibility. Have a look at the file I mention and if you have trouble interpreting the error message, please edit your question and add the entire line that contains the error. Someone is bound to be able to help you with this.
/bin/touch
rather then touch