updating cron and atrun

[Cy Schubert]

In message <CAJzSF_5dEhnEx5wKGyJ6NrjyJtSiscH9EDrZH-y9EFnE1kN25w at mail.gmail.c
om>
, Josh Aas writes:
> There seems to be a real question here about the value of at/atrun.
> Maybe a good compromise is to move that functionality to ports instead
> of the base system. If we integrate the functionality into cron then
> we're basically stuck with it in core. All functionality adds
> complexity, and complexity adds maintenance cost and risk. Sometimes
> that's totally worth it, but I don't think it's clear that saddling
> FreeBSD base with at/atrun because we integrated it with cron for
> unclear reasons is necessarily a good idea.

That is not a compromise. The functionality has been in cron in Solaris, 
AIX, HP-UX, DG/UX, Tru64, and now NetBSD for years, in some cases decades. 
Why such a reluctance to maintain basic functionality because it is either 
not understood or you never use it?

Atrun should be integrated into cron, where all other major UNIX and 
UNIX-like systems have the function. However when we implement pkgbase 
crond(8), crontab(1), and at(1)/batch(1) should be three separate packages, 
like Linux distros do. crond(8) could be installed by default whereas 
crontab(1) and at(1)/batch(1) would not.

Moving at(1) and batch(1) to ports would be tantamount to putting vi in 
ports because, well, nano is an easier to use editor. (Yes, we did that at 
$JOB on our RHEL servers for a while because vi is too hard for most people 
to use, it used up valuable space, and only installed it if a customer 
specifically requested it. That policy is no more but that it was makes my 
point. We now install vim and nano.) You get my point. The fact that some 
people don't understand a utility and don't have the time or patience to 
learn it (yes, we're all busy, like at $JOB, and taking time out to learn 
something, like at $JOB, has a cost) doesn't mean it's not useful.

Coming from a SunOS, Solaris, HP-UX, DG/UX, Tru64 background, at(1) and 
batch(1) are a basic function of cron, even if some in the Linux community 
feel they're not.


-- 
Cheers,
Cy Schubert <Cy.Schubert at cschubert.com>
FreeBSD UNIX:  <cy at FreeBSD.org>   Web:  http://www.FreeBSD.org

	The need of the many outweighs the greed of the few.