Don't understand howe cron jobs work

puntino · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

I don'd get to grips with cron jobs. I don't understand exactly how to configure it. This is what I did:

I did not set up the scheduled task during Thyme's installation and want to implement it now. I followed the instructions in the tutorial. The path in settings->Scheduled is set to /usr/bin/php/

When I called thyme's task_instructions.php it reported these errors:

Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/usr/lib/php5/bin) is not within the allowed path(s): (/mytmp/b/l/mydomain.ch:/tmp:/mytmp/sendmail:/home/httpd/cgi-bin:/usr/share/php:/home/b/l/mydomain.ch::/opt/saferpay/:/home/etc2/gbooksrc/:/home/httpd/php/:/home/etc2/Counter/:/usr/lib/php5/lib/php/extensions/:/usr/lib/php4/lib/php/extensions/) in /home/b/l/mydomain.ch/htdocs/thyme/task_instructions.php on line 45

Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/usr/lib/php5/bin/php) is not within the allowed path(s): (/mytmp/b/l/mydomain.ch:/tmp:/mytmp/sendmail:/home/httpd/cgi-bin:/usr/share/php:/home/b/l/mydomain.ch::/opt/saferpay/:/home/etc2/gbooksrc/:/home/httpd/php/:/home/etc2/Counter/:/usr/lib/php5/lib/php/extensions/:/usr/lib/php4/lib/php/extensions/) in /home/b/l/mydomain.ch/htdocs/thyme/task_instructions.php on line 54

Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/usr/lib/php5/bin/php-cgi) is not within the allowed path(s): (/mytmp/b/l/mydomain.ch:/tmp:/mytmp/sendmail:/home/httpd/cgi-bin:/usr/share/php:/home/b/l/mydomain.ch::/opt/saferpay/:/home/etc2/gbooksrc/:/home/httpd/php/:/home/etc2/Counter/:/usr/lib/php5/lib/php/extensions/:/usr/lib/php4/lib/php/extensions/) in /home/b/l/mydomain.ch/htdocs/thyme/task_instructions.php on line 54

Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/usr/lib/php5/bin/php5) is not within the allowed path(s): (/mytmp/b/l/mydomain.ch:/tmp:/mytmp/sendmail:/home/httpd/cgi-bin:/usr/share/php:/home/b/l/mydomain.ch::/opt/saferpay/:/home/etc2/gbooksrc/:/home/httpd/php/:/home/etc2/Counter/:/usr/lib/php5/lib/php/extensions/:/usr/lib/php4/lib/php/extensions/) in /home/b/l/mydomain.ch/htdocs/thyme/task_instructions.php on line 54

Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/usr/lib/php5/bin/php5-cgi) is not within the allowed path(s): (/mytmp/b/l/mydomain.ch:/tmp:/mytmp/sendmail:/home/httpd/cgi-bin:/usr/share/php:/home/b/l/mydomain.ch::/opt/saferpay/:/home/etc2/gbooksrc/:/home/httpd/php/:/home/etc2/Counter/:/usr/lib/php5/lib/php/extensions/:/usr/lib/php4/lib/php/extensions/) in /home/b/l/mydomain.ch/htdocs/thyme/task_instructions.php on line 54

Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/usr/lib/php5/bin/php4) is not within the allowed path(s): (/mytmp/b/l/mydomain.ch:/tmp:/mytmp/sendmail:/home/httpd/cgi-bin:/usr/share/php:/home/b/l/mydomain.ch::/opt/saferpay/:/home/etc2/gbooksrc/:/home/httpd/php/:/home/etc2/Counter/:/usr/lib/php5/lib/php/extensions/:/usr/lib/php4/lib/php/extensions/) in /home/b/l/mydomain.ch/htdocs/thyme/task_instructions.php on line 54

Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/usr/lib/php5/bin/php4-cgi) is not within the allowed path(s): (/mytmp/b/l/mydomain.ch:/tmp:/mytmp/sendmail:/home/httpd/cgi-bin:/usr/share/php:/home/b/l/mydomain.ch::/opt/saferpay/:/home/etc2/gbooksrc/:/home/httpd/php/:/home/etc2/Counter/:/usr/lib/php5/lib/php/extensions/:/usr/lib/php4/lib/php/extensions/) in /home/b/l/mydomain.ch/htdocs/thyme/task_instructions.php on line 54
Instructions to add the Thyme scheduled job to a command scheduler on your web server. The Thyme scheduled job is a PHP script which needs to run in order to;

If I use "My web site is hosted by someone else" regardless of the error messages, this error is reported several times:

checking /usr/lib/php5/bin/php ...
Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/usr/lib/php5/bin/php) is not within the allowed path(s): (/mytmp/b/l/mydomain.ch:/tmp:/mytmp/sendmail:/home/httpd/cgi-bin:/usr/share/php:/home/b/l/mydomain.ch::/opt/saferpay/:/home/etc2/gbooksrc/:/home/httpd/php/:/home/etc2/Counter/:/usr/lib/php5/lib/php/extensions/:/usr/lib/php4/lib/php/extensions/) in /home/b/l/mydomain.ch/htdocs/thyme/task_instructions.php on line 137
not found

I then activated the shell_exec() function in my providers configuration. It still reports errors:

Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/usr/lib/php5/bin) is not within the allowed path(s): (/mytmp/b/l/bluesnews.ch:/tmp:/mytmp/sendmail:/home/httpd/cgi-bin:/usr/share/php:/home/b/l/bluesnews.ch::/opt/saferpay/:/home/etc2/gbooksrc/:/home/httpd/php/:/home/etc2/Counter/:/usr/lib/php5/lib/php/extensions/:/usr/lib/php4/lib/php/extensions/) in /home/b/l/bluesnews.ch/htdocs/thyme/task_instructions.php on line 45

using "My web site is hosted by someone else" again, it reports:

* checking /usr/lib/php5/bin/php ...
Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/usr/lib/php5/bin/php) is not within the allowed path(s): (/mytmp/b/l/mydomain.ch:/tmp:/mytmp/sendmail:/home/httpd/cgi-bin:/usr/share/php:/home/b/l/mydomain.ch::/opt/saferpay/:/home/etc2/gbooksrc/:/home/httpd/php/:/home/etc2/Counter/:/usr/lib/php5/lib/php/extensions/:/usr/lib/php4/lib/php/extensions/) in /home/b/l/mydomain.ch/htdocs/thyme/task_instructions.php on line 137
not found
* checking /usr/bin/php ... found!

Great! The installation script found PHP at: /usr/bin/php . The command to run should be set to:

The command line field underneath that is empty.

Trying to run http://www.mydomain.ch/thyme/jobs.php creates this error:

Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/usr/bin/php/) is not within the allowed path(s): (/mytmp/b/l/bluesnews.ch:/tmp:/mytmp/sendmail:/home/httpd/cgi-bin:/usr/share/php:/home/b/l/bluesnews.ch::/opt/saferpay/:/home/etc2/gbooksrc/:/home/httpd/php/:/home/etc2/Counter/:/usr/lib/php5/lib/php/extensions/:/usr/lib/php4/lib/php/extensions/) in /home/b/l/bluesnews.ch/htdocs/thyme/jobs.php on line 64

When I change the path in settings->Scheduled to "none", everything remains the same, except that I can now run http://www.mydomain.ch/thyme/jobs.php and the mails are beeing send. However, the timed notfications etc. do not work. My provider does not have that fancy cronjob control panel. I can just enter the time intervall (smallest is 15 minutes, but this is OK) and the script URL, which is set to:

http://[login]:[password]@www.mydomain.ch/thyme/jobs.php

I do not understand various things:

Where should the path in settings->Scheduled point to?
Where comes the path: /usr/lib/php5/lib/php in the error messages come from?

Maybe there is a more detailed instruction on how to use cron jobs, but I did not found anything. Can someone help me?

esoft_ian · Joined: 12 Sep 2005 Posts: 5275

Hi,

Leave everything as is. The setting in Admin -> Scheduled Task at "none", but change the setting that says "The Thyme scheduled task is configured to run every" to 15 minutes.

Let me know if this doesn't resolve it.

puntino · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

Hi Ian

Thanks. Notification now works, however, reminders don't. I cannot configure to 15 minutes, the closest is 10 Minutes in the dropdown. However, is this crucial? I guess no.

esoft_ian · Joined: 12 Sep 2005 Posts: 5275

Yes, this is actually crucial. What is the next interval up that your hosting provider will configure? Can they change it to run every 20 minutes?

puntino · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

Sounds like a misunderstandig. My provider can 15/30 min. as the smallest slice. However, I cannot have 15 min in the thyme configuration (thyme->local settings->planned tasks->interval. There I have either 10, 20 or 30 minutes. I give it a try to use 30 minutes in thyme AND at the providers end.

puntino · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

Hi Ian

have you had the opportunity to look at my problem?

puntino · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

Ian
I am going to ask the provider re. Cron jobs/interval. However, I still think it has to do with the paths. When calling the task_instructions.php it reports a pile of error messages as posted previously. I suspect, the job cannot work at all and I wonder where I can beign to solve this.Would you pls read once more the error messages and let me know what you think?

puntino · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

addendum:

according to the provider, the jobs executed app. xx:15 and xx:45

esoft_ian · Joined: 12 Sep 2005 Posts: 5275

Hi,

The warnings in the task instructions are just warnings regarding not finding the PHP executable program. Your scheduled task settings are set up so that it does not use the executable program, so these warnings can be ignored. I suspect the intervals being at :15 and :45 is the culprit and the changes made should compensate for this.

puntino · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

I'm afraid, no improvement, Notification work, subscription not and reminders also ceased to work.

edited 24.08./22:40
reminders DO work again?! Lets's consider it some erro maybe my fault

puntino · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

any news on this subject?

esoft_ian · Joined: 12 Sep 2005 Posts: 5275

I'm sorry. Still working on it

puntino · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

Any idea how long it takes before I can expect an answer. This goes on quite a while now and my projects ist still awaiting to be finished.