crontab entry environment variables [PSARC/2007/503 FastTrack timeo

[Don Cragun]

ut 09/10/2007]

>From Darren.Moffat at sun.com Wed Sep  5 03:17:21 2007
>
>Don Cragun wrote:
>>> Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2007 06:28:09 -0700 (PDT)
>>> From: Darren J Moffat <darrenm at sac.SFBay.Sun.COM>
>>>
>>> Updated man pages are in the materials directory.
>>>
>> Darren,
>>      When is the materials directory going to be created and
>> populated?  Given the abnormal effects this can have on third party
>> code, I want to see the rationale and application usage sections of
>> these man pages...
>
>Can you explain exactly how you think that third party code could be
>impacted by this.  These variables are NOT set by default unless a user
>explicitly chooses to set them.   Even third party code that adds
>entries to end user crontab's isn't likely to be impacted by this as I
>see it unless the user has explicitly added these new variables before
>the third party code updates the users crontab file or they do so
>afterwards.

Darren,
	The concern is that it is not unusual for 3rd party applications
to install crontab entries to perform periodic maintenance on log files,
databases, etc. during off-peak hours.  If someone installs one of these
applications that uses a shared crontab file (e.g., root) after putting
an entry in that shared crontab file that shifts the timezone, this
stuff may start running during peak hours.  I believe the man pages and
release notes should warn people who install software.  The warning
needs to specify that that crontab files may need to be manually
editted if software installation adds crontab tntries to any shared
crontab files if crontab timezone shifting is enabled.

	Cheers,
	Don

PS Sorry for the delay in resonding.  The available networks both in
   the hotel I was in and the conference room in which I was meeting
   were configured in ways that did not allow me to punch into my mail
   server.