crontab -e on SCO 8 1

[copperslim]

When ever I try to issue the command crontab -e as root. it does not edit the crontab but when I issue crontab -l I get the list.
What am I doing wrong as the crontab I want to edit was set-up by user root user.

 

[KenCunningham]

When you issue the crontab -e, are you able so see the lines within the crontab, or do you just get a number? If that's the case, you may have to set your EDITOR variable to vi (set EDITOR=vi; export EDITOR) to enable you to use vi as the editor of the crontab. If that's not the problem, can you desribe in a little more detail wat you're doing and what sort of output your getting when trying to edit, please. Cheers.

 

[copperslim]

This what happend
#set EDITOR=vi
# export EDITOR
# crontab -e

this is what am getting
ed /tmp/crontaba0072A
5575

 

[KenCunningham]

Hmm, just checked one of my SCO boxes, and it doesn't appear to have an EDITOR variabe set, but still opens crontab in vi. What shell are you using, I'm using /bin/ksh? Looks to me as if you're using ed as the default editor for crontab, but I need to check how to change this. Get back to us re. the shell.

 

[copperslim]

It hangs and also creates the /tmp/crontaba0072A in the /tmp. I can use vi to edit it in /tmp. Am confused and a job needs to run today @ 15.45 hours.

 

[KenCunningham]

I don't think it's hanging, that's just default behaviour for ed - a little cryptic, I agree. Is this file created within /tmp exactly the same as the crontab? If so, I guess you could edit it and then issue a crontab <filename> so that it then becomes your crontab (and can be verified with a crontab -l that the change has been accepted). Not an ideal solution, I agree, but if I do find more out, I'll get back to you. When you say 15:45 hrs, are we talking BST? If not, others may well be along later who'll have the necessary info. for SCO.

 

[copperslim]

i can edit the file in /tmp as it creates it. The more crontab -e commands I issue the more files it creates.

15:45 British Local Time.(GMT)

I have edit the cron vi /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root and saved it then issued the crontab -e command then crtl c hoping it will think I have edit it and saved. crontab -l verifies changes but does it mean it has taken effect?

 

[KenCunningham]

crontab -e and then ctrl-C won't save the file, just abort the operation. If you're in vi, you have to save the file properly, ie after editing, press <esc>, then colon, then wq! to write and quit.

Incidentally, it may be that you have to specify the full vi pathename to get crontab to use it, ie:

set EDITOR=/usr/bin/vi ; export EDITOR

then try editing it.Maybe give that a go?

 

[copperslim]

This is the result.

# set EDITOR=/usr/bin/vi
# export EDITOR
# crontab -e

ed /tmp/crontaba0005q
5575

it hangs, when I press entre I get ?

 

[KenCunningham]

As I say, you're in ed (a precursor of vi, if you can imagine that!). Does your crontab -l show the new job that you've added? If so, when you get the above message, just type w <return> and then q <return> to get back to the command prompt. If not, then edit the temporary copy in /tmp and save it, then issue crontab /tmp/filename to activate it.

Incidentally, it's usually good advice not to edit the crontab directly using crontab -e, but I guess it's a bit late for that now! Hope this works.

 

[KenCunningham]

Hmm. You might also try:

EDITOR=vi; export EDITOR

Then try your crontab -e again.

as the set seems superfluous (or possibly plain wrong!).

 

[copperslim]

Thanx

EDITOR=vi; export EDITOR

Worked.

this is what I did
EDITOR=vi
# export EDITOR
# crontab -e
vi /tmp/crontaba000Jg

before I was getting ed /tmp/********* it changed to vi /tmp/******

Thanx

 

[KenCunningham]

No problem. Should have got there sooner, but it is Monday morning! Cheers.