[SOLVED] [Linux] Run Python script through cron?

[Winfried]

Hello,

On a Debian host, I need to run a Python script through cron. The script will need to write a file elsewhere on the disk.

I have the following questions:
1. Will it run as root or as the script owner?
2. What access rights (chmod) should I use?
3. Do I need to set the shebang line? #!/usr/bin/python
4. In the cron file (crontab -e) , do I need to use absolute paths for both the interpreter and the script, eg. /usr/bin/python /home/joe/script.py
5. In case it doesn't work as expected, does cron write a log file somewhere?

Thank you.

[menator01]

1. Will it run as a script owner? - depends what user executes the crontab - If you set crontab as root it will execute as root. If you set the crontab as a user it will execute as users. You can set it up to execute using sudo but, I don't remember how as it's been a while.

2. What access rights - needs to have execute, maybe read. Unless root also need write on the directory write the file

3. Do I need the shebang line> - Common practice if you have multiple versions of python. If not used will use default python version

4. Do I need absolute paths? - Yes

5. Does crontab have logs? - Most logs are in /var/log. It may log to syslog. You can check the /etc/crontab file and see how the log is setup

[Winfried]

Worked perfect. Thanks for the help.