periodic(8)
NAME
periodic - run periodic system functions
SYNOPSIS
periodic directory ...
DESCRIPTION
- The periodic utility is intended to be called by cron(8) to
- execute shell
scripts located in the specified directory. - One or more of the following arguments must be specified:
- daily Perform the standard daily periodic executable
- run. This
- usually occurs early in the morning (local
- time).
- weekly Perform the standard weekly periodic executable
- run. This
- usually occurs on Sunday mornings.
- monthly Perform the standard monthly periodic exe
- cutable run. This
- usually occurs on the first day of the month.
- security Perform the standard daily security checks.
- This is usually
- spawned by the daily run.
- path An arbitrary directory containing a set of exe
- cutables to be
- run.
- If an argument is an absolute directory name it is used as
- is, otherwise
it is searched for under /etc/periodic and any other direc - tories specified by the local_periodic setting in periodic.conf(5) (see
- below).
- The periodic utility will run each executable file in the
- directory or
directories specified. If a file does not have the exe - cutable bit set,
it is silently ignored. - Each script is required to exit with one of the following
- values:
- 0 The script has produced nothing notable in its output.
- The
- <basedir>_show_success variable controls the masking
- of this output.
- 1 The script has produced some notable information in
- its output.
- The <basedir>_show_info variable controls the masking
- of this output.
- 2 The script has produced some warnings due to invalid
- configuration
- settings. The <basedir>_show_badconfig variable con
- trols the masking of this output.
- >2 The script has produced output that must not be
- masked.
- If the relevant variable (where <basedir> is the base direc
- tory in which
the script resides) is set to ``NO'' in periodic.conf, - periodic will mask
the script output. If the variable is not set to either - ``YES'' or
``NO'', it will be given a default value as described in
periodic.conf(5). - All remaining script output is delivered based on the value
- of the
<basedir>_output setting. - If this is set to a path name (beginning with a `/' charac
- ter), output is
simply logged to that file. newsyslog(8) knows about the - files
/var/log/daily.log, /var/log/weekly.log and - /var/log/monthly.log, and if
they exist, it will rotate them at the appropriate times. - These are
therefore good values if you wish to log periodic output. - If the <basedir>_output value does not begin with a `/' and
- is not empty,
it is assumed to contain a list of email addresses, and the - output is
mailed to them. - If <basedir>_output is not set or is empty, output is sent
- to standard
output.
ENVIRONMENT
- The periodic utility sets the PATH environment to include
- all standard
system directories, but no additional directories, such as
/usr/local/bin. If executables are added which depend upon - other path
components, each executable must be responsible for config - uring its own
appropriate environment.
FILES
- /etc/crontab the periodic utility is
- typically called
- via entries in the system
- default
cron(8) table - /etc/periodic the top level directory
- containing
- daily, weekly, and monthly
- subdirectories which contain standard
- system periodic executables
- /etc/defaults/periodic.conf the periodic.conf system
- registry con
- tains variables that con
- trol the
behaviour of periodic and - the standard
daily, weekly, and monthly - scripts
- /etc/periodic.conf this file contains local
- overrides for
- the default periodic con
- figuration
- EXIT STATUS
- Exit status is 0 on success and 1 if the command fails.
EXAMPLES
- The system crontab should have entries for periodic similar
- to the following example:
# do daily/weekly/monthly maintenance
0 2 * * * root period- ic daily
0 3 * * 6 root period - ic weekly
0 5 1 * * root period - ic monthly
- The /etc/defaults/periodic.conf system registry will typi
- cally have a
local_periodic variable reading:
local_periodic="/usr/local/etc/periodic- /usr/X11R6/etc/periodic"
- To log periodic output instead of receiving it as email, add
- the following lines to /etc/periodic.conf:
daily_output=/var/log/daily.log
weekly_output=/var/log/weekly.log
monthly_output=/var/log/monthly.log- To only see important information from daily periodic jobs,
- add the following lines to /etc/periodic.conf:
daily_show_success=NO
daily_show_info=NO
daily_show_badconfig=NO
DIAGNOSTICS
The command may fail for one of the following reasons:
- usage: periodic <directory of files to execute> No directo
- ry path argument was passed to periodic to specify where the script
- fragments reside.
- <directory> not found Self explanatory.
SEE ALSO
sh(1), crontab(5), periodic.conf(5), cron(8), newsyslog(8)
HISTORY
The periodic utility first appeared in FreeBSD 3.0.
AUTHORS
Paul Traina <pst@FreeBSD.org>
Brian Somers <brian@Awfulhak.org>
BUGS
- Since one specifies information about a directory using
- shell variables
containing the string, <basedir>, <basedir> must only con - tain characters
that are valid within a sh(1) variable name, alphanumerics - and underscores, and the first character may not be numeric.
- BSD November 28, 2001