crontab

[Derek Broughton]

Gene Heskett wrote:

> On Friday 20 November 2009, Ian L. Target wrote:
>>Thomas Olsen wrote:
>>> On Friday 20 November 2009 15:44:16 Ian L. Target wrote:
>>>> I have downloaded and installed a script from
>>>> http://counter.li.org/scripts/
>>>>
>>>> When I run this script with the -c option, it is supposed to create or
>>>> edit a crontab file. Instead, I get the following error message:  You
>>>> (ian) or not allowed to use this program (crontab)  See crontab(1) for
>>>> more information.
>>>>
>>>> I googled crontab and read the man pages because I am not really
>>>> familiar with crontab.  The google entry says each user should have a
>>>> crontab file, another google entry says it is only accessible to the
>>>> root user.  Which statement is correct?  The website
>>>> http://counter.li.org/scripts/ says it is better to run the script as a
>>>> regular use as opposed to the root user so I assume that every user has
>>>> a crontab file.
>>>>
>>>> What am I doing wrong?
>>>
>>> It's a bit hard to say without knowing what script you're using.
>>> You could just run "crontab -e" from Konsole but then you should
>>> definitely read the man page.
>>> Otherwise use "System Settings"=>"Advanced"=>"Task Scheduler" and choose
>>> "Personal Cron". I haven't used it my self but it looks rather intuitive
>>> to use.
>>
>>When in konsole, I get the same error message:
>>
>>You (ian) or not allowed to use this program (crontab)
>>
> Damn!  What ID10T made that decision?  Dumb.
> 
Why would you jump to the conclusion that some IDIOT made any decision.  
When _I_ run the crontab command it works fine.  Which suggests to me that 
either: somebody used sudo in the wrong place and wrote a file that he can't 
read as a less privileged user, or there's a /etc/cron.allow file (which, if 
empty, will prevent users from using crontab) but that's not a default 
Ubuntu file.
-- 
derek