On Saturday 14 November 2015 17:58:59 Kynn Jones wrote: > I'm trying to set up a `cron` job that will send me mail for some > outputs. > > In my `crontab` I have the `MAILTO` variable set to my email address, > as well as the directives > > * * * * * /bin/date >> /tmp/debug_cron > * * * * * /bin/date >&2 On the machine, MAILTO: is not normally to your email address, but usually is username@localhost.
> as a test (i.e. a proxy for the command I eventually want to run), but > I'm getting no mail from `cron`. (I do get outptu in the > `/tmp/debug_cron` file.) > > My `/var/log/auth.log` file shows many pairs of lines of the form: > > Nov 14 17:25:01 myhost CRON[29571]: pam_unix(cron:session): session > opened for user myusername by (uid=0) > Nov 14 17:25:01 myhost CRON[29571]: pam_unix(cron:session): session > closed for user myusername > > A new pair of such lines gets added every minute, which coincides with > the timing of my crontab commands. Therefore, it may be that > `pam_unix` is blocking `cron`'s attempt to send me mail? I don't know > how to pursue this possibility further. (I have never done any > PAM-related configuration in my life, so whatever configuration I have > is either what "came out of the box" when I installed Debian, or was > carried out by some program without my intervention.) > > (BTW, aside from what I've described above, nothing else in the logs > appears relevant to this question, even remotely so.) > > How can I troubleshoot this problem further? > > Thanks in advance for any advice! > > kj > > PS: FWIW, my `/etc/pam.conf` file contains only comments and > whitespace, and here are the contents (excluding comments and > whitespace) of other `pam` relevant config files: > > # /etc/pam.d/cron > @include common-auth > session required pam_loginuid.so > session required pam_env.so > session required pam_env.so envfile=/etc/default/locale > @include common-account > @include common-session-noninteractive > session required pam_limits.so > > # /etc/pam.d/common-auth > auth [success=1 default=ignore] pam_unix.so nullok_secure > auth requisite pam_deny.so > auth required pam_permit.so > auth optional pam_cap.so > > # /etc/pam.d/common-account > account [success=1 new_authtok_reqd=done default=ignore] > pam_unix.so account requisite pam_deny.so > account required pam_permit.so > > # /etc/pam.d/common-session-noninteractive > session [default=1] pam_permit.so > session requisite pam_deny.so > session required pam_permit.so > session required pam_unix.so Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
