Re: cron(8) improvement

On Nov 5, 2013, at 9:31 AM, Allan Jude <freebsd_at_allanjude.com> wrote:

> This came up in discussion on IRC and I thought I should throw it at the
> list so I don't forget.
> 
> A user was asking how to do what linux cron does, where there is a
> directory /etc/cron.d/ that packages and add files to to create crontabs.
> 
> Making FreeBSD's cron (Vixie Cron) include /etc/cron.d/ and
> /usr/local/etc/cron.d/ in the /etc/crontab format seems like a very
> useful feature, especially for pkg(8) as it makes it easy and safe to
> programatically add and remove crontabs as part of a package.

This is a good idea.  We should do it.

How and if this facility gets used is a separate question.

"Tools, not policy."

Support for a cron.d directory is a tool that can be
used in many ways.  The policy of how it should be
used is a separate discussion.  (For example, whether
or not ports or packages should install crontab files into
/usr/local/etc/cron.d/ can be richly debated after that
directory exists.)

Tim