Hi Guys,

I am on the verge of giving up with crontab! Please help!

Ok, I have a php file which when visited in a web browser works fine. The page parses Xml using Xsl and then adds the info to a MySql database.

My problem is when I try and add this to the crontab.

The line I have come up with is….

1 * * * *
/usr/local/bin/php /home/httpd/vhosts/###.co.uk/httpdocs/xmlcron/DBcurrentstatus.php

With my binary php build at /usr/local/bin/php and the full path to file being /home/httpd/vhosts/###.co.uk/httpdocs/xmlcron/DBcurrentstatus.php.

This doesn’t work and doesn’t report any errors.

Using Shell, from the root, if I type in the line (without the 1****) should it work? I get the error message “Could not open input file /home/httpd/vhosts/###.co.uk/httpdocs/xmlcron/DBcurrentstatus.php.”

If I then try and su to the /home/httpd/vhosts/###.co.uk/httpdocs/xmlcron/ folder I can’t as I get ‘persmission denied’ when trying to enter ‘httpdocs’.

I am logged in as the default user ‘###’ while the file is on the ‘###.co.uk’ virtual host. (of the server)

I think I have one of two problems…

1. Either permissions are insufficient for cron to run /home/httpd/vhosts/###.co.uk/httpdocs/xmlcron/DBcurrentstatus.php.
2. Or there are problems because my php uses xsl/xml.

I get the following error message when trying to run the page using wget from shell…

###@######.co.uk $ wget http://67.19.218.114/67.19.218.115/#...rentstatus.php
--07:35:25-- http://67.19.218.114/67.19.218.115/#...rentstatus.php
           => `DBcurrentstatus.php'
Connecting to 67.19.218.114:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [text/html]
DBcurrentstatus.php: Permission denied
Cannot write to `DBcurrentstatus.php' (Permission denied).

I have my own server but the hosts aren’t being very helpful. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan

Hey, Dan,

Sorry if I'm being daft - is the file on your local machine, or at your webhost?
i.e. is there a file called /home/httpd/vhosts/###.co.uk/httpdocs/xmlcron/DBcurrentstatus.php on the machine that you're physically in front of.

If that is the case, you could chmod 755 to make it world executable. You'll need php and the xsl stuff installed on your machine for it to run, and you may need to be root to do it.

If the file is on your webhost, you could do something like lynx --dump http://your_server_name/path/to/DBcurrentstatus.php > ~/my_page_output to grab the output, and put it in your home directory.

Either way it sounds like crontab isn't the problem.

Good luck.

--
Don't Stand on your head - you'll get footprints in your hair. http://charlieharvey.com