I've tried 3 methods on starting python scripts at startup:
- Adding the script line with full paths to python3 bin and the script to rc.local (verifying permissions are executable)
This option will execute shell scripts and other commands but for some reason it just doesn't execute my python script. Well actually, it looks like it might but it never finishes cause I dont get the output file showing it worked.
adding to /etc/init.d and creating a symlink
Adding a @reboot in cron
Creating a service with systemd that executes it
All of them appear like they might be triggering the script but like on the last one, I have the script being launched by cron, and then the script removes the cron job that started the script. When I execute the script from the command line normally, it works perfectly. However, when cron starts it, it appears to partially execute cause the /etc/crontab file gets deleted.
Does this have something to do with the context of the file being deleted?
I tried tagging 2> to pretty much all other methods above to see if errors occur but I literally get nothing in the stderr file. Also added the stderr/print to rc.local.
Here is my script
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import time
import subprocess
import re
cron = open("/etc/crontab","r")
print("1")
cronText = cron.read()
cron.close
print("2")
cron = open("/etc/crontab","w")
print("3")
cron.write('')
print("4")
cronText = re.sub(r'\* \* \* \* \* root /usr/bin/env python3 /root/Desktop/test\.py 2\> /root/Desktop/err\.log','',cronText)
print("5")
cron.write(cronText)
cron.close
print("6")
subprocess.call("service cron restart",shell=True)
print("7")
file1 = open("thisWORKED.txt","w")
print("8")
file1.write("This totally worked")
file1.close
print("9")
Here is what /etc/crontab looks like
# /etc/crontab: system-wide crontab
# Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the `crontab'
# command to install the new version when you edit this file
# and files in /etc/cron.d. These files also have username fields,
# that none of the other crontabs do.
SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
# m h dom mon dow user command
17 * * * * root cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly
25 6 * * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily )
47 6 * * 7 root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly )
52 6 1 * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.monthly )
* * * * * root /usr/bin/env python3 /root/Desktop/test.py > /root/Desktop/err.log 2>&1
The err.log literally gives nothing in it output. I tried tagging stderr like everywhere when I tried to other methods. Im mostly just trying to figure out why my scripts arent being started.
