systemd units to run cron scripts

systemd units to provide cron daemon functionality by running scripts in cron directories.
The crontabs are automaticaly translated using (/usr)/lib/systemd/system-generators/systemd-crontab-generator.

Add executable scripts to the appropriate cron directory (e.g. /etc/cron.daily) and enable systemd-cron:

# systemctl daemon-reload
# systemctl enable cron.target
# systemctl start cron.target

The project also includes simple crontab command equivalent, which behaves like standard crontab command (and accepts the same main options).

The scripts should now be automatically run by systemd. See man:systemd.cron(7) for more information.

• systemd ≥ 197
  • systemd ≥ 209, yearly timers
  • systemd ≥ 212, persistent timers
  • systemd ≥ 217, minutely , quarterly & semi-annually timers
• run-parts
• python 3
• /usr/sbin/sendmail (optional, evaluated at runtime)
• gcc or clang (needed to build crontab_setgid.c; this helper is optional and evaluated at runtime)

There exists packages avaible for:

• Debian
• Ubuntu
• Arch
• Gentoo

There is also a .spec file for Fedora in contrib/.

You can also build it manually from source.

$ ./configure
$ make

$ make DESTDIR="$destdir" install

The configure script takes command line arguments to configure various details of the build. The following options follow the standard GNU installation directories:

• --prefix=<path>
• --bindir=<path>
• --confdir=<path>
• --datadir=<path>
• --libdir=<path>
• --statedir=<path>
• --mandir=<path>
• --docdir=<path>

Other options include:

• --unitdir=<path> Path to systemd unit files. Default: <libdir>/systemd/system.
• --runparts=<path> The path installations should use for the run-parts executable. Default: <prefix>/bin/run-parts.
• --enable-boot[=yes|no] Include support for the boot timer. Default: yes.
• --enable-minutely[=yes|no] Include support for the minutely timer. Requires systemd ≥ 217. Default: no.
• --enable-hourly[=yes|no] Include support for the hourly timer. Default: yes.
• --enable-daily[=yes|no] Include support for the daily timer. Default: yes.
• --enable-weekly[=yes|no] Include support for the weekly timer. Default: yes.
• --enable-monthly[=yes|no] Include support for the monthly timer. Default: yes.
• --enable-quarterly[=yes|no] Include support for the quarterly timer. Requires systemd ≥ 217. Default: no.
• --enable-semi_annually[=yes|no] Include support for the semi-annually timer. Requires systemd ≥ 217. Default: no.
• --enable-yearly[=yes|no] Include support for the yearly timer. Requires systemd ≥ 209. Default: no.
• --enable-persistent[=yes|no] Make timers persistent. Requires systemd ≥ 212. Default: no.
• --enable-setgid[=yes|no] Compile setgid C helper for crontab. Needs GCC or Clang. Default: no.

A typical configuration for the latest systemd would be:

$ ./configure --prefix=/usr --confdir=/etc --enable-yearly --enable-persistent

If you only want the generator (you'll have to provide your own /etc/crontab to drive /etc/cron.daily/ etc...):

$ ./configure --enable-boot=no --enable-hourly=no --enable-daily=no --enable-weekly=no --enable-month=no --enable-persistent --prefix=/usr --confdir=/etc

Your package should also run these extra commands before starting cron.target to ensure that @reboot scripts doesn't trigger right away:

# touch /run/crond.reboot
# touch /run/crond.bootdir

systemd.cron(7) or in source tree man -l src/man/systemd.cron.7

The project is licensed under MIT.

© 2014, Dwayne Bent : original package with static units
© 2014, Konstantin Stepanov ([email protected]) : author of crontab generator
© 2014, Daniel Schaal : review of crontab generator
© 2014, Alexandre Detiste ([email protected]) : manpage for crontab generator