Cron Jobs in /etc/crontab on FreeBSD r4.9

This document describes the default installation of cron jobs for FreeBSD. The jobs are run by cron(8). The control file is /etc/crontab. The description of /etc/crontab can be found in the man page, crobtab(5). All jobs run as root, as is specified in the crontab.

An investigation of /etc/crontab will show that the scripts for the jobs are stored in a subdirectory tree under /etc/periodic. In /etc/periodic, there are three (3) subdirectories, each corresponding to the periodic nature of the job; daily, weekly and monthly. The subdirectory /etc/perodic/daily has jobs that run everyday. By the same methodology, /etc/periodic/weekly and /etc/periodic/monthly contain the jobs to be run weekly and monthly, respectively. The time and date (if applicable) that the script is run is define in /etc/crontab.

The order of the jobs is determined (in SystemV style) by the prefix to a file name. As such, all files have a prefix number that allows job. For example, '100.clean-disks' runs before job '110.clean-tmps'. The remainder of the filename is traditionally used as a terse description of it's function.

The table that follows contains detailed information about each script install (by default). The information was derived from investigation of the cron script or comments extracted from the script. The comments are listed for historical reasons.

The user is cautioned that this table is not a definition of the jobs, but a description of those jobs listed as of the date of this writing. Given the volitale nature of the system, the user is advised, when in doubt, "read the source".

Special Note:
If you're looking for answer to user crontab, a common problem is listed in the FAQ under Why do I get the error, “you are not in the correct group to su root” when I try to su to root?.

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