Cron job not running

Hello. I've been reading and tinkering for days but I still can't seem to get this cron job working. It's hopefully a simple fix and I'm just being stupid.

I am trying to use crontab to run a script every 3 hours to download an EPG for TVheadend.

To start, I used "crontab -e" to edit my crontab file. This is the crontab file I started with:

0 0,3,6,9,12,15,18,21 * * * /storage/epg.sh

I included an empty line at the end of the file as some posts recommended. I ^o to save the file as "/storage/.cache/cron/crontabs.753" and ^x to exit the editor. Next I run "crontab -l" which returns the file I just wrote.

In my "/storage/" directory I have "epg.sh" which I have made executable with "chmod +x epg.sh" (I have also tried "chmod 775 epg.sh" and "chmod a+x epg.sh").

This is my "epg.sh" file:

#!/bin/sh
wget -O /storage/xmltv.php.xml "<url>"

This runs perfectly when I do "sh /storage/epg.sh" in console, but it never runs through my crontab command.

I've read a bunch of posts about cron and crontab on libreelec and far too many other linux systems.

Following other's advice, I tried modifying my crontab file to this:

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/storage
0 0,3,6,9,12,15,18,21 * * * /storage/epg.sh

No luck.

I also tried modifying my "epg.sh" to this:

#!/bin/sh
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/storage
wget -O /storage/xmltv.php.xml "<url>"  

Again, nothing.

I've run "ps aux | grep cron", "ps aux | grep crond" & "ps aux | grep crontab" which return:

# ps aux | grep cron
  619 root       0:00 /sbin/crond -f -S
  875 root       0:00 grep cron
# ps aux | grep crond
  619 root       0:00 /sbin/crond -f -S
  877 root       0:00 grep crond
# ps aux | grep crontab
  879 root       0:00 grep crontab

This means they are all running, right? Hopefully they are all stopped and I'm being stupid and someone can tell me how to start them.

I have tried "systemctl restart cron", which executes successfully but makes no difference.

I have tried "/etc/init.d/crond start", "/etc/init.d/crond stop" & "service crond restart" based on random posts regarding other systems, obviously none of these execute.

I even did "crontab -r" and made a brand new file with "crontab -e" again just to make sure I didn't mess something up the first time, but still no luck.

I am at a loss. Does anyone have any sage advice for me? Please?

Thanks in advance.

Quote from vpeter

What does systemctl status cron -l returns?

Hello vpeter, "systemctl status cron -l" was returning:

● cron.service - Cron daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/cron.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Fri 2017-05-19 10:01:28 EDT; 1 months 3 days ago
  Process: 290 ExecStartPre=/bin/mkdir -p /storage/.cache/cron/crontabs (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 297 (crond)
   CGroup: /system.slice/cron.service
           └─297 /sbin/crond -f -S

Jun 22 10:16:00 IPTV crond[297]: USER root pid 1362 cmd /storage/epg.sh
Jun 22 10:16:00 IPTV crond[297]: /bin/sh: /storage/epg.sh: not found
Jun 22 10:17:00 IPTV crond[297]: USER root pid 1364 cmd /storage/epg.sh
Jun 22 10:17:00 IPTV crond[297]: /bin/sh: /storage/epg.sh: not found
Jun 22 10:18:00 IPTV crond[297]: USER root pid 1367 cmd /storage/epg.sh
Jun 22 10:18:00 IPTV crond[297]: /bin/sh: /storage/epg.sh: not found
Jun 22 10:19:00 IPTV crond[297]: USER root pid 1372 cmd /storage/epg.sh
Jun 22 10:19:00 IPTV crond[297]: /bin/sh: /storage/epg.sh: not found
Jun 22 10:20:00 IPTV crond[297]: USER root pid 1375 cmd /storage/epg.sh
Jun 22 10:20:00 IPTV crond[297]: /bin/sh: /storage/epg.sh: not found

I tried adding "bash" to my crontab file as Jocke.Sve recommended. After that edit "systemctl status cron -l" is returning:

● cron.service - Cron daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/cron.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Fri 2017-05-19 10:01:28 EDT; 1 months 3 days ago
  Process: 290 ExecStartPre=/bin/mkdir -p /storage/.cache/cron/crontabs (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 297 (crond)
   CGroup: /system.slice/cron.service
           └─297 /sbin/crond -f -S

Jun 22 10:25:00 IPTV crond[297]: wget: server returned error: HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
Jun 22 10:26:00 IPTV crond[297]: USER root pid 1415 cmd bash /storage/epg.sh
Jun 22 10:26:00 IPTV crond[297]: Connecting to <url>:<port> (<url>:<port>)
Jun 22 10:26:00 IPTV crond[297]: wget: server returned error: HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
Jun 22 10:27:00 IPTV crond[297]: USER root pid 1420 cmd bash /storage/epg.sh
Jun 22 10:27:00 IPTV crond[297]: Connecting to <url>:<port> (<url>:<port>)
Jun 22 10:27:00 IPTV crond[297]: wget: server returned error: HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
Jun 22 10:28:00 IPTV crond[297]: USER root pid 1431 cmd bash /storage/epg.sh
Jun 22 10:28:00 IPTV crond[297]: Connecting to <url>:<port> (<url>:<port>)
Jun 22 10:28:00 IPTV crond[297]: wget: server returned error: HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request

Thanks for the useful command vpeter and for the suggestion Jocke.Sve! That seems to have gotten my cron job running.

Now I just have to figure out why my wget is throwing a bad request error, despite working perfectly the other day.

To anyone searching for a solution to crontab not running a shell script, try Jocke.Sve's advice:

Change * * * * * /path/script.sh to * * * * * bash /path/script.sh

If anyone stumbles upon this thread regarding "wget: server returned error: HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request" make sure you don't have an empty line at the end of your script.