cron/anacron

[Derek Broughton]

Frank McCormick wrote:

>> 
>   Only one more question: what are the files in /var/spool/cron/crontabs
>   used for ??? Are they the jobs for individual users? 

Yes.

>   If so, why does my 
>   updatedb never get updated ? There is a job in there for me to updatedb
>   and according to the man the syntax is correct.
> 
> Thanks for that clear and detailed explanation. Although I've been using
> Ubuntu for 2 years...and Linux for 3+ I never understood the relationship.

You _personally_ run updatedb?  Generally it's run by root
from /etc/cron.daily/slocate (which anacron does execute, and it visibly
stalls my laptop 5 minutes after boot).  While I'm sure there are instances
that you would want to run against some particular tree, I'm not sure the
average user _can_.
-- 
derek