PHP Cron Job Problems

Hi all,

I am trying to set up a cron job to run every night. At the moment the line looks like this:

* 0 * * * /dh/cgi-system/php.cgi /home/username/domain.com/scripts/script.php

When this executes I get an email saying:

"No input file specified."

I have tried running the command on its own from the command line and it works fine. I have also tried this using /usr/local/bin/php instead but get the same outcome (works fine from command line but says "No input file specified" when run from cron).

Any ideas?

What happens if you run it from the web?

--rlparker

Is /dh/cgi-system/php.cgi the full path? Cron will like the full path.
When you enter the crontab (crontab -e) make sure you add a newline at the end by pressing enter.
Also script.php should be executable which is what you probably have already.
You might also try a double 0 as a last ditch, over the top boys, attempt.


--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

The script runs fine when run from the web. That is actually how I am having to run it at present.

I tihkn /dh/cgi-system/php.cgi is the full path. I got it from the Dreamhost wiki. I have also tried it using /usr/local/bin/php but no joy.

Script.php is 755 so shouldn't be a problem there. Have also tried a variety of times but not working. It is a couple of PHP scripts that I have not working also. Both have the same problems.

Fell foul of the newline problem at first but even with that it is still presenting problems.

What is the wiki page you are looking at? Some of the wiki entries have been there a while and may not have had paths updated as DreamHost changed and evolved.


--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

The page is:
http://wiki.dreamhost.com/index.php/Cron

I tend to use /usr/local/bin/php and then make sure #!/usr/local/bin/php -q is the first line of the script.

So a full line would be:-

1,11,21,31,41,51 * * * * /usr/local/bin/php /home/username/domain/somefolder/reminders.php >/dev/null 2>&1

Noting the space after PHP (The dev/null just dumps any screen messages)

If you still get errors then it may be something wrong in your script.php which you may want to show here if you wish so others can check it over.


--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

Thanks Norm,

I have tried using /usr/local/bin/php but it still gives me a "No input file found" message.

The script runs fine when run from the browser or from the command line so I don't think it is an issue with the script.

It might be worth contacting support in that case with a link to this thread so they know what you have tried.

Have you tried setting up a simple crontab just to make sure that, that part of your account is okay?


--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

No I haven't. I will give that one a try.

Thanks for all the help btw. Very much appreciated.

OK, after some more playing I now have it picking up the file from the crontab. However, it is outputting the following error:

/bin/sh: line 1: 1
: ambiguous redirect

Script.php reads:

#!/usr/local/bin/php
<?php

$backupFile = '/home/darksummer/db_dumps/' . DB_NAME . date("Y-m-d-H-i-s") . '.gz';
$command = "/usr/bin/mysqldump --opt -h DB_SERVER -u DB_USER -pDB_PASSWORD DB_NAME | gzip > $backupFile";
system($command);
echo( '<h2>Database back-up completd successfully</h2>' );

?>

Any ideas on that one?

Does that little dot before the gz need to be there?

And is the path for db_dumps okay?



Naaah forget the dot thing

--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

Yes, it is appending the string. I have also tried the script with double quotes, but it makes no difference.

The crontab is not getting past line one as I have been trying it with some echos in there to debug it.

I have also tried removing the first line from script.php and it gives me the same outcome.

Oh yeah, and the db_dumps path is fine. Like I say this has been running fine from the command line and in a browser.

Thanks

If it helps I found the php.cgi file at /usr/local/dh/cgi-system/
Silk

My website

The error I am currently getting is:

/bin/sh: line 1: 1
: ambiguous redirect

In script.php, the command I am sending to the shell is:

/usr/bin/mysqldump --opt -h mysql.domain.co.uk -u username -ppassword database_name | /bin/gzip > /home/username/db_dumps/database_name.sql.gz

Can anyone see anything in the shell command that would cause that error?

Thanks

I decided to just set up the same cron job using your script. Hope you do not mind.

I get this back from crond, complete with your typo



X-Powered-By: PHP/4.4.2

Content-type: text/html



<h2>Database back-up completd successfully</h2>



So it certainly seems to run okay as you have laid it out.

The filename is as you expect

file2006-09-05-08-51-01.gz

I have just let the crontab run and I have had another OK and the gzipped file produced.


Sorry I cannot think of anything further to add. You are running the Bash shell? You have chmodded script.php to 755? You have added the extra linefeed to the crontab?

I have not tried under PHP5 but I would not see it being different.

Maybe one for support just in case there is a problem with tmp file permissions.


Sorry.



--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

Thanks again for the help Norm. I think it is time to hit the support guys.

Actually, I seem to have it working now. Once last ditch attempt before I was going to contact support and I found that the ambiguous redirect referred to the 2>&1 I had on the end of the line in my cron file. I removed that and now it is working.

Thanks for all the help. I appreciate it a lot.

Zack

Post the final outcome if you can. I am intrigued to know what has happened. It is going to have to be a different configuring of servers. It must be.



--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

That is even odder because I had initially left it off to get the email reports. Even having stuck it back on the end of the crontab line the script still runs but of course I get no emailed result because of the >/dev/null 2>&1.

Here is the crontab line I was using.

MAILTO=username
1,11,21,31,41,51 * * * * /usr/local/bin/php /home/username/test/script.php >/dev/null 2>&1

Still you have your script working. Put it down to DreamHost



--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

I'm having the same problem--my script runs fine on the command-line, but CRON keeps spitting out "No input file specified" errors. I've tried everything I can think of to no avail. Do you mind posting how you solved this issue? Thanks in advance.

zackwragg mentioned he had left the dev/null off the end and then it worked. Did you try that? Or he may have had a response from the support people.



--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

Actually, I didn't have "dev/null" at the end. My crontab entry was:

* * * * * /dh/cgi-system/php.cgi /home/roshangupta/cronjobs.php


My script was a test script that simply sent an email:

#!/usr/local/bin/php -q
<?php
mail('test@atastandstill.com', 'Test subject', 'Test body');
?>


When I manually invoke the script, it runs fine. But when I invoke the script via a cron job, I keep getting "Input file not specified", similar to zackwragg. I've tried every combinatino of using "/usr/local/bin/php" and "/dh/cgi-system/php.cgi" as well as including/excluding the line "#!/usr/local/bin/php -q" from the top of my php script.

Is cronjobs.php in the right location, in the root of your account?


--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

Just set this up as you have it and it works okay.

Make sure that /home/roshangupta/cronjobs.php is exactly where cronjobs.php is and not under your website root.

When you complete the crontab entry using crontab -e make sure you have added a blank line at the end before you save the crontab.

If you still have no success you may have to contact support.


--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

You know, it was under /home/roshangupta/atastandstill.com. But the entry I gave you listed it under /home/roshangupta. I think I might have copied "cronjobs.php" to the root directory (as described in my crontab) to try it out in that location, but not sure. I'll give it another shot tonight and let you know if I'm successful. Thanks for the help.

Ok, I couldn't wait, just tried it. Here is my cron:

temple:~> crontab -l
MAILTO=roshan@atastandstill.com
* * * * * /dh/cgi-system/php.cgi /home/roshangupta/cronjobs.php


Here is my "cronjobs.php":

temple:~> pwd
/home/.heckel/roshangupta
temple:~> more cronjobs.php
#!/usr/local/bin/php -q
<?php
mail('roshan@atastandstill.com', 'Test subject', 'Test body');
?>

temple:~>



I get the following email every minute from root@temple.dreamhost.com:

Status: 404
X-Powered-By: PHP/4.4.4
Content-type: text/html

No input file specified.


When I run "/dh/cgi-system/php.cgi /home/roshangupta/cronjobs.php" in my command line, I get the correct email with subject "Test subject" as expected.


Help!

What permissions do you have for the cronjobs.php file?

Have you tested the cron with the MAILTO line removed?



--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

I just tried it with the MAILTO removed, but I never get the email I supposedly should get with my "cronjobs.php" script. I also stopped getting the status emails from root@temple.dreamhost.com like I used to.

Here are the persmission of the two files in my "/home/roshangupta" directory. I don't think cronjobs.cron matters, once it's been loaded into crontab.


-rw-r--r-- 1 roshangupta pg501846 98 2007-01-15 14:11 cronjobs.cron
-rwxr--r-- 1 roshangupta pg501846 97 2007-01-16 13:28 cronjobs.php

Try your cronjobs.php as 664

chmod 664 cronjobs.php



--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

No go :(

-rw-rw-r-- 1 roshangupta pg501846 97 2007-01-16 13:28 cronjobs.php

You will probably have to try support then.

What is cronjob.cron for by the way?



--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

It just holds my crontab definitions. I run the following to load all my cronjobs:

1) crontab -r (removes all cronjobs)
2) crontab cronjobs.cron (loads by cron job definitions)
3) crontab -l (confirm my jobs are loaded)


I'll open a support ticket. Thanks for trying :)

Okay.

If you haven't already have you tried with an empty crontab by using crontab -e and then putting in the required line rather than loading crontab by an external file?

Sorry could not get it going.


--
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHosts'.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!!

You act on my advice at your own risk!

No go :( I filed a support ticket per your suggestion, I'll post to let you know how/if it gets resolved.

I'm having same problem, did support team ever solve this issue?

Some google searching turned up a forum that hinted at script rights. Not sure how I fix this, or if it's even the problem.

thx