so to script the thing it's actually done like this, doh: -------------snip------------ #show crontab, on a new system should be empty: crontab -l #put in whatever cron checks you need, one by one... echo "*/3 * * * * /usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_megaraid_passive.sh > /dev/null 2>&1" >> /var/spool/cron/root # restart crond afterward service crond restart # show you results, new stuff should be there. crontab -l ------------------snip--------------- dunno why I was trying to do this elaborate EOF thing. -krb Karl R. Balsmeier wrote: > thanks, I'm running a script after kickstart install, and am looking > to "cat" a known value into an empty cron file. Managing it or > otherwise having to manually edit it is not the issue i'm seeking info > on. > > I'm trying to avoid having to manually add all of my known cron jobs > with crontab -e > > To do this, I was trying out some stuff like: > > *cat >> $out_file << EOF > first line of data > second line of data > more data > the end of the data > EOF* > > but in a way that was safe for cron, with no modifications to the > default manner in which cron runs, e.g. crontab -l, crontab -e later > would not break seeking some new file. > > -karlski > > > Matt Hyclak wrote: > >> On Tue, Mar 13, 2007 at 11:32:55AM -0500, Styma, Robert E (Robert) >> enlightened us: >> >> >>> The most common way I have seen ov updating crontab is the >>> crontab command. >>> >>> 1. login or su to the appropriate user >>> 2. crontab -l > /tmp/crontab.txt >>> 3. edit /tmp/crontab.txt to your liking >>> 4. crontab /tmp/crontab.txt >>> >>> This gets the right files in the right places an alerts cron >>> of the change. >>> >>> >> >> >> Or you could just type crontab -e and not copy tmp files around. >> >> This method is fine when you're not trying to automate something, so >> is good >> information, but less useful to the OP. >> >> Matt >> >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS at centos.org > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos