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25 .\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.sbin/periodic/periodic.8,v 1.11.2.15 2003/03/12 22:08:15 trhodes Exp $
26 .\" $DragonFly: src/usr.sbin/periodic/periodic.8,v 1.5 2007/09/07 23:24:20 swildner Exp $
33 .Nd run periodic system functions
40 utility is intended to be called by
42 to execute shell scripts
43 located in the specified directory.
45 One or more of the following arguments must be specified:
46 .Bl -tag -width ".Pa monthly"
48 Perform the standard daily periodic executable run.
49 This usually occurs early in the morning (local time).
51 Perform the standard weekly periodic executable run.
52 This usually occurs on Saturday mornings.
54 Perform the standard monthly periodic executable run.
55 This usually occurs on the first day of the month.
57 Perform the standard daily security checks.
58 This is usually spawned by the
62 An arbitrary directory containing a set of executables to be run.
65 If an argument is an absolute directory name it is used as is, otherwise
66 it is searched for under
68 and any other directories specified by the
76 utility will run each executable file in the directory or directories
78 If a file does not have the executable bit set, it is silently ignored.
80 Each script is required to exit with one of the following values:
83 The script has produced nothing notable in its output.
85 .Ao Ar basedir Ac Ns Va _show_success
86 variable controls the masking of this output.
88 The script has produced some notable information in its output.
90 .Ao Ar basedir Ac Ns Va _show_info
91 variable controls the masking of this output.
93 The script has produced some warnings due to invalid configuration settings.
95 .Ao Ar basedir Ac Ns Va _show_badconfig
96 variable controls the masking of this output.
98 The script has produced output that must not be masked.
101 If the relevant variable (where
103 is the base directory in which the script resides) is set to
108 will mask the script output.
109 If the variable is not set to either
113 it will be given a default value as described in
114 .Xr periodic.conf 5 .
116 All remaining script output is delivered based on the value of the
117 .Ao Ar basedir Ac Ns Va _output
120 If this is set to a path name (beginning with a
122 character), output is simply logged to that file.
124 knows about the files
125 .Pa /var/log/daily.log , /var/log/weekly.log
127 .Pa /var/log/monthly.log ,
128 and if they exist, it will rotate them at the appropriate times.
129 These are therefore good values if you wish to log
134 .Ao Ar basedir Ac Ns Va _output
135 value does not begin with a
137 and is not empty, it is assumed to contain a list of email addresses, and
138 the output is mailed to them.
141 .Ao Ar basedir Ac Ns Va _output
142 is not set or is empty, output is sent to standard output.
148 environment to include all standard system directories, but no additional
151 If executables are added which depend upon other path components, each
152 executable must be responsible for configuring its own appropriate environment.
154 .Bl -tag -width ".Pa /etc/defaults/periodic.conf"
158 utility is typically called via entries in the system default
162 the top level directory containing
167 subdirectories which contain standard system periodic executables
168 .It Pa /etc/defaults/periodic.conf
171 system registry contains variables that control the behaviour of
178 .It Pa /etc/periodic.conf
179 this file contains local overrides for the default
184 The system crontab should have entries for
186 similar to the following example:
187 .Bd -literal -offset indent
188 # do daily/weekly/monthly maintenance
189 0 2 * * * root periodic daily
190 0 3 * * 6 root periodic weekly
191 0 5 1 * * root periodic monthly
195 .Pa /etc/defaults/periodic.conf
196 system registry will typically have a
200 .Dl local_periodic="/usr/local/etc/periodic /usr/pkg/xorg/etc/periodic"
204 output instead of receiving it as email, add the following lines to
205 .Pa /etc/periodic.conf :
206 .Bd -literal -offset indent
207 daily_output=/var/log/daily.log
208 weekly_output=/var/log/weekly.log
209 monthly_output=/var/log/monthly.log
212 To only see important information from daily periodic jobs, add the
214 .Pa /etc/periodic.conf :
215 .Bd -literal -offset indent
216 daily_show_success=NO
218 daily_show_badconfig=NO
221 Exit status is 0 on success and 1 if the command
222 fails for one of the following reasons:
224 .It usage: periodic <directory of files to execute>
225 No directory path argument was passed to
227 to specify where the script fragments reside.
228 .It <directory> not found
234 .Xr periodic.conf 5 ,
240 utility first appeared in
243 .An Paul Traina Aq pst@FreeBSD.org
244 .An Brian Somers Aq brian@Awfulhak.org
246 Since one specifies information about a directory using shell
247 variables containing the string,
250 must only contain characters that are valid within a
252 variable name, alphanumerics and underscores, and the first character