Re: Should we add jitter to cron(8) ?

> On Nov 2, 2026, at 9:10 AM, Jamie Landeg-Jones <jamie@catflap.org> wrote:
> 
> Peter Jeremy <peterj@FreeBSD.org> wrote:
> 
>> IMO, it would be useful to have a way of saying e.g. "run once an hour
>> but I don't care when within the hour".
> 
> I assume that the time within the hour would be the same each hour? If so,
> that would be useful.
> 
> But would than initial state random number be stored somewhere, or reset
> each time cron starts?

<2 cents> (deflated)
It would probably be better if the state was tracked at the system level instead of in the application itself.

As a bonus, employing jitter might improve overall system-level entropy, depending on how jobs are run and when, which could help cryptography some.
</2 cents>

Thanks,
-Enji