bin/145912: trivial enhancement patch for man crontab

[Garrett Cooper]

The following reply was made to PR docs/145912; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Garrett Cooper <yanefbsd at gmail.com>
To: "Julian H. Stacey" <jhs at berklix.com>
Cc: bug-followup at freebsd.org
Subject: Re: bin/145912: trivial enhancement patch for man crontab
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:47:35 -0700

 On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 6:38 AM, Julian H. Stacey <jhs at berklix.com> wrote:
 >> From: =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Garrett Cooper <yanefbsd at gmail.com>
 >
 > Garrett Cooper wrote:
 >> On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 3:12 AM, Julian H. Stacey <jhs at berklix.com> wrot=
 e:
 >>
 >> > =A0.Bl -tag -width /var/cron/allow -compact
 >> > =A0.It Pa /var/cron/allow
 >> > =A0.It Pa /var/cron/deny
 >> > + .It Pa /var/cron/tabs/{login_names}
 >>
 >> =A0 =A0 Should {login_names} be removed
 >
 > It cant be removed because it does not exist to remove,
 > until after my send-pr is commited.
 >
 >
 >> =A0because of the potential ambiguity
 >> that it introduces
 >
 > What ambiguity ?
 
 /var/cron/tabs/{login_names} -> ENOENT (does not exist).
 
 The entry should be consistent in cron(8) and say:
 
 /var/cron/tabs
 
 at least, no more.
 
 >> and be better defined through a description like
 >> with cron(8)?
 >
 > Dont know what you mean.
 
      FILE                  DESCRIPTION
 
      /etc/crontab     System crontab file
      /etc/pam.d/cron  pam.conf(5) configuration file for cron
      /var/cron/tabs   Directory for personal crontab files
 
 The files should be keyed pairs. This is an inconsistency in the
 documentation that should be corrected.
 
 >
 >> Also, there's no description of the proposed change in
 >> the bug report, so for someone that's trying to figure out what this
 >> change is doing
 >
 > It's a proposal for a one line change to a manual !
 
 Yes, and if we're going to change this now, we might as well make it a
 three line change to be consistent with cron(8) :)...
 
 >> from a customer perspective it would be nice if it
 >> said something like 'add a reference noting where the default
 >> installed crontabs are located', etc.
 >
 >
 > Yawn ! =A0Add that comment to the send-pr if you want, pretty obvious.
 > Any `customer' who cant figure what a one line diff to a manual
 > does is a customer opinion I dont care about :-)
 
 Posting to bug-followup already did that.
 
 >> =A0 =A0 Finally, this documentation kind of duplicates what's already in=
  cron(8):
 >>
 >> =A0 =A0 =A0The cron utility searches /var/cron/tabs for crontab files wh=
 ich are
 >> =A0 =A0 =A0named after accounts in /etc/passwd; crontabs found are loade=
 d into mem-
 >> =A0 =A0 =A0ory. =A0The cron utility also searches for /etc/crontab which=
  is in a dif-
 >> =A0 =A0 =A0ferent format (see crontab(5)).
 >
 > If you want, feel free to submit a send-pr for some wider consolidation
 > of documentation, perhaps to move some tect from man cron to man crontab.
 
 Perhaps, but again... the details need to be logically consolidated.
 Some entries are best kept in crontab(5) (like your proposed addition,
 plus the description for it that's missing, and the reference to
 /etc/crontab), and other pieces should be in cron(8) (like
 /etc/pam.d/cron).
 
 If you don't want to provide the patch then I will make the
 modification and post it ... inconsistent documentation leads to user
 confusion which doesn't help the overall goal trying to be achieved in
 having the documentation in the first place :).
 
 >> [...]
 >>
 >> FILES
 >> =A0 =A0 =A0/etc/crontab =A0 =A0 System crontab file
 >> =A0 =A0 =A0/etc/pam.d/cron =A0pam.conf(5) configuration file for cron
 >> =A0 =A0 =A0/var/cron/tabs =A0 Directory for personal crontab files
 
 Thanks,
 -Garrett