Using crontab for scan files with OCC command

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1

Nextcloud version : 22.2.6
Operating system and version : debian 11
Apache or nginx version : Apache 2
PHP version : 8.1

The issue you are facing:

Hello everyone,
i’m trying to automate a scan with OCC command using crontab (daily scan). But when the time for the crontab comes, it simply does nothing. No scan at all. I can confirm that because i’ve added /modify files before and after the crontab schedule, i can’t see any of my modification in NC.

Here is the file where i put my command :

sudo crontab -e -u www-data

Here is the command i use in the crontab :

www-data /usr/bin/php /var/www/nextcloud/occ files:scan --all --verbose 2>&1 >> /tmp/nextcloud_rescan_debug.log

the log file is totally empty.

And the command (without the verbose part) works perfectly well outside of the crontab.

thanks in advance for your help.

2

Try putting it in a file and running that file with cron instead. The output redirection may not work in the cron itself.

2 Likes
3

Why start with www-data
Shell will not see this as a command end exit.
Its already in the user www-data crontab.

1 Like
4

In addition to what @Vincent_Stans stated you also have to specify a time when the command should be executed. You can use https://crontab.guru to get the correct syntax.

If you for example want to run it daily at midnight you could use the following line:

@daily /usr/bin/php /var/www/nextcloud/occ files:scan --all --verbose 2>&1 >> /tmp/nextcloud_rescan_debug.log

If you want to run it every night at 2am it would look like this…

0 2 * * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/nextcloud/occ files:scan --all --verbose 2>&1 >> /tmp/nextcloud_rescan_debug.log

If it still doesn’t work, try it in combination with what @KarlF12 suggested.

5

ok but what kind of file do i have to create ? and how to run it instead of the OCC command ?

ok i will try !

i have it in my syntax, i just did’nt put it in my original post because this is not part of the problem (i guess). Thanks anyway.

6

Just a text file… a bash or sh script for example. Put your commands in it. Make it executable and run it from cron.

7

For example create a file in the root of your nc data-directory named files-scan.sh or name it however you like and put it wherever www-data can read it.
Do place your command in this file.

echo “/usr/bin/php /var/www/nextcloud/occ files:scan --all --verbose 2>&1 >> /tmp/nextcloud_rescan_debug.log” | tee -a files-scan.sh

make this file executable.

chmod +x files-scan.sh
cp files-scan.sh /nc-data-dir/

Now add this file to you crontab.

sudo crontab -e -u www-data
*/5 * * * * /nc-data-dir/files-scan.sh

To avoid all above and add you command directly in cron you could try.

sudo crontab -e -u www-data
*/5 * * * * php -f /var/www/nextcloud/occ files:scan --all

Leave the logging as the system already log cron.

8

Thanks to both of you. I will try that and let you know :slight_smile: