Cron is working, but it isn't

[HaroldQ]

I've installed cron, and the included crontab test entry works fine every time. However, the entry I've added to run TivoTitle.tcl doesn't work at all. No apparent attempt to run it in cron's log. I'm sort of new at this, so I may be missing something obvious, but I've read everything I can find about it and can't figure it out.

Here is my crontab...

-------------------------------------------------------------
SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/var/hack/bin
MFS_DEVICE=/dev/hda10
TIVO_ROOT=""

*/10 * * * * date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out
5,35 * * * * /hack/title/TivoTitle.tcl -c
--------------------------------------------------------------

I've tried modifying the TivoTitle line in several ways, and one time it did work. (09/24-00:05:00-375 and 09/24-00:35:00-403 in the log below.) Then I updated my crontab, and it stopped working again and hasn't worked since. I can't remember what I changed in that crontab update, but it didn't seem like anything that should have broken it.

I also tried using the var/hack/vars method, but that didn't work. (Then I realized that AlphaWolf's crontab additions make that unnecessary anyway.)

Here is my log file. (The missing cron.test.out runs are just because I didn't have cron running or had removed that crontab entry at the time. Every time the test should have run, it has.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CRON (09/23-22:42:46-275) STARTUP (fork ok)
cron (09/23-22:50:00-288) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
cron (09/23-23:00:00-294) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
cron (09/23-23:10:00-297) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
*system* (09/23-23:16:00-275) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
*system* (09/23-23:23:00-275) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
*system* (09/23-23:34:00-275) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
*system* (09/23-23:35:00-275) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
cron (09/23-23:40:00-328) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
*system* (09/23-23:47:00-275) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
*system* (09/23-23:48:00-275) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
*system* (09/23-23:53:00-275) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
*system* (09/23-23:58:00-275) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
*system* (09/24-00:05:00-275) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
cron (09/24-00:05:00-375) CMD (/hack/title/TivoTitle.tcl -c)
cron (09/24-00:35:00-403) CMD (/hack/title/TivoTitle.tcl -c)
*system* (09/24-00:37:00-275) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
*system* (09/24-02:30:00-275) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
*system* (09/24-02:34:00-275) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
CRON (09/24-02:36:28-459) STARTUP (fork ok)
CRON (09/24-03:31:11-488) STARTUP (fork ok)
*system* (09/24-14:49:00-488) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
cron (09/24-14:50:00-519) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
*system* (09/24-14:56:00-488) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
*system* (09/24-14:59:00-488) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
cron (09/24-15:00:00-538) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
*system* (09/24-15:04:00-488) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
cron (09/24-15:10:00-557) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
*system* (09/24-15:14:00-488) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
cron (09/24-15:30:00-575) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
cron (09/24-15:40:00-580) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
cron (09/24-15:50:00-586) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
cron (09/24-16:00:00-620) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
CRON (09/24-16:29:36-693) STARTUP (fork ok)
cron (09/24-16:30:00-696) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
*system* (09/24-16:34:00-693) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
cron (09/24-16:40:00-711) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
cron (09/24-16:50:00-719) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
cron (09/24-17:00:00-722) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
cron (09/24-17:10:00-725) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
cron (09/24-17:20:00-732) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
cron (09/24-17:30:00-740) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
CRON (09/24-17:32:00-755) STARTUP (fork ok)
cron (09/24-17:40:00-776) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
*system* (09/24-17:42:00-755) RELOAD (/var/hack/etc/crontab)
cron (09/24-17:50:00-792) CMD (date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone can suggest anything, I'd appreciate it.

[genericuser]

What are you using to edit the crontab file? Are you editing it on the PC or the TIVO? Is it possible that your lines are not proper unix?

I would suggest reversing the lines:

5,35 * * * * /hack/title/TivoTitle.tcl -c
*/10 * * * * date >> /var/hack/cron.test.out

And verify that the crontest is still working.

I would change my line to:

5,35 * * * * /hack/title/TivoTitle.tcl -c >> /var/hack/tt.log 2>&1

This will make a log file for it and put botht eh stdout and stderr into it.

[superzap]

Using pixie cron, I noticed that the last statement in crontab MUST have a CR at the end of the line. If it doesn't it will be ignored. Using JOE while positioned at the end of the last line, hit Enter to make sure the CR is included.

[HaroldQ]

Now it all makes sense. When I switched the two lines, TivoTitle worked but the test line didn't. (Which I could live with.) Now that I've added a CR at the end, everything I try works. Thanks, guys. Now, on to fixing that microskipping TivoTitle causes when it runs...

[genericuser]

That microskipping has been fixed already. Look at:

http://dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16558

Actually that thread deals with nosdd... but I believe the theory should fix TivoTitle too.