Re: [MacPerl] Cron

[Chris Nandor <pudge@pobox.com>]

At 07.00 -0500 1999.02.16, Sean Carte wrote:
>Is it possible to use MacPerl to implement cron-like features on a Mac?

Yes.  Might be better to use an exteranl Cron, though.

>I've used Frontier to do this in the past, but would like to use MacPerl
>instead. All I've been able to find that's relevant is the sleep()
>function, but this seems to tie up the Mac. My idea is to periodically
>close files in order to back them up and then reopen them.

I was using the script below for awhile.  I saved it as a runtime and left
it in
my MacPerl folder.  Worked OK.  I haven't used it in awhile and don't know
what
bugs may remain.  I use sleep(), and I don't know why it would tie up your
Mac.  I don't even remember why I did everything I did below.  Oh well.  :)

As input to the cron program, I had folder called Cron Preferences in the
System Folder.  Each item was a text file with a MacPerl script in it, and was
named in a cron-like way:

  * * * * * SetHeads  run every minute
  6 16 * * * books.plx  run every day at 0616 hrs

etc.  Basically, I used the same setup as used in the Cron program for Mac
that I sometimes use.


>I'm sorry if this has been covered before; I seem to remember something
>on this topic. By the way, is there an archive for this mailing list?

Yes.  See http://www.ptf.com/macperl/ for a list of resources.

#!perl
# crond by pudge@pobox.com 1998.07.07

use strict;
use Mac::Files;
use Time::Local;
use IO::Tee;  # I don't recall if this is the same IO::Tee on CPAN
my($dir, $log, %files, @files);

$dir = FindFolder(kOnSystemDisk(), kPreferencesFolderType()) . ':Cron
Preferences:';
$log = "${dir}log";
_init();

while (1) {
  my @time = localtime;
  @files = ();
  FILES: for my $file (keys %files) {
    my @nums = @{$files{$file}};
    for my $x (1 .. 4, 6) {
      if ($nums[$x] =~ /^(\d+)-?(\d+)?$/) {
        my $c;
        for ($1 .. $2 || $1) {$c++ if $_ == $time[$x]}
        next FILES if !$c;
      }
    }
    push @files, $file;
  }

  for my $file (@files) {
    print "[${\(scalar localtime)}]";
    printf "     $files{$file}[7] ... %s",
      do $file ? 'Done.' : "can't do $file:\n  $!";
  }

  if ((localtime)[1] != $time[1]) {
    $time[1]++;
    @files = ();
    print "Redo";
    do FILES;
  }

  sleep(61-(localtime)[0]);
}

sub _init {
  open(STDERR, ">&STDOUT") or die $!;
  open(LOG, ">>$log") or die $!;
  tie(*TEE, q(IO::Tee), *STDOUT, *LOG);
  select(TEE); $| = 1; $\ = "\n";
  printf "\n\nStarting at [${\(scalar localtime)}] ...\n";

  %files = ();
  opendir(D, $dir) or die $!;
  foreach my $file (sort readdir D) {
    if ($file =~
/^([0-9-]+|\*)\s+([0-9-]+|\*)\s+([0-9-]+|\*)\s+([0-9-]+|\*)\s+([0-9-]+|\*)\s+(.*
)$/) {
      $files{"${dir}$file"} = [$file, $1, $2, $3, $4, undef, $5, $6];
      print $file;
    }
  }
  closedir(D);
  END {print "\nLog closed at [${\(scalar localtime)}]"}
}

--
Chris Nandor          mailto:pudge@pobox.com         http://pudge.net/
%PGPKey = ('B76E72AD', [1024, '0824090B CE73CA10  1FF77F13 8180B6B6'])

***** Want to unsubscribe from this list?
***** Send mail with body "unsubscribe" to mac-perl-request@iis.ee.ethz.ch