backup apparently not working

backup apparently not working

[Tyler Littlefield]

Hello,
First. I've partially figured out the problem.
It's throwing a fit about removing leading slash.
second, I've got the following line in a script:
tar -czvf ~/backups/valiant/`date '+%m-%d-%Y_%H'`.tar.gz ~/valiant/moo/db.db
when I ran that from the command line, it worked. when I tried to run it 
from a script, it "cowardly refused to create an empty archive," and then 
decided to try to run every file in my directory, it looks like.
Ideas?

Thanks,
Tyler Littlefield
email: tyler@tysdomain.com
web: tysdomain-com
Visit for quality software and web design.
skype: st8amnd2005

Re: backup apparently not working

[Kerry Hoath]

Is HOME set correctly in the crontab?

Regards, Kerry.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@tysdomain.com>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 7:52 AM
Subject: backup apparently not working


> Hello,
> First. I've partially figured out the problem.
> It's throwing a fit about removing leading slash.
> second, I've got the following line in a script:
> tar -czvf ~/backups/valiant/`date '+%m-%d-%Y_%H'`.tar.gz 
> ~/valiant/moo/db.db
> when I ran that from the command line, it worked. when I tried to run it 
> from a script, it "cowardly refused to create an empty archive," and then 
> decided to try to run every file in my directory, it looks like.
> Ideas?
>
> Thanks,
> Tyler Littlefield
> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
> web: tysdomain-com
> Visit for quality software and web design.
> skype: st8amnd2005
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> 

Re: backup apparently not working

[Tyler Littlefield]

what do you mean is it set in the crontab? I just execute that script from 
crontab. it's the script that's not working.


Thanks,
Tyler Littlefield
email: tyler@tysdomain.com
web: tysdomain-com
Visit for quality software and web design.
skype: st8amnd2005

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kerry Hoath" <kerry@gotss.net>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 4:32 PM
Subject: Re: backup apparently not working


> Is HOME set correctly in the crontab?
>
> Regards, Kerry.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@tysdomain.com>
> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 7:52 AM
> Subject: backup apparently not working
>
>
>> Hello,
>> First. I've partially figured out the problem.
>> It's throwing a fit about removing leading slash.
>> second, I've got the following line in a script:
>> tar -czvf ~/backups/valiant/`date '+%m-%d-%Y_%H'`.tar.gz 
>> ~/valiant/moo/db.db
>> when I ran that from the command line, it worked. when I tried to run it 
>> from a script, it "cowardly refused to create an empty archive," and then 
>> decided to try to run every file in my directory, it looks like.
>> Ideas?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Tyler Littlefield
>> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
>> web: tysdomain-com
>> Visit for quality software and web design.
>> skype: st8amnd2005
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Speakup mailing list
>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup 

Re: backup apparently not working

[Kerry Hoath]

Exactly what I said.
Just because you execute a script from crontab does not mean it has all 
environment variables set inside the script.

Your script is relying on the fact that the HOME environment variable is 
set, which i'm sure it is when you run the script from the command-line, 
however it might not be the case when the script is run from cron.

What user is running the crontab and what value do you expect HOME to be?
Also is the script running under /bin/bash and is the backquote expantion 
actually working?
Modify your crontab so it echos your command into a temporary file so the 
command that is executed is what you think it is.
Regards, Kerry.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@tysdomain.com>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 8:33 AM
Subject: Re: backup apparently not working


> what do you mean is it set in the crontab? I just execute that script from 
> crontab. it's the script that's not working.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Tyler Littlefield
> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
> web: tysdomain-com
> Visit for quality software and web design.
> skype: st8amnd2005
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kerry Hoath" <kerry@gotss.net>
> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 4:32 PM
> Subject: Re: backup apparently not working
>
>
>> Is HOME set correctly in the crontab?
>>
>> Regards, Kerry.
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@tysdomain.com>
>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
>> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
>> Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 7:52 AM
>> Subject: backup apparently not working
>>
>>
>>> Hello,
>>> First. I've partially figured out the problem.
>>> It's throwing a fit about removing leading slash.
>>> second, I've got the following line in a script:
>>> tar -czvf ~/backups/valiant/`date '+%m-%d-%Y_%H'`.tar.gz 
>>> ~/valiant/moo/db.db
>>> when I ran that from the command line, it worked. when I tried to run it 
>>> from a script, it "cowardly refused to create an empty archive," and 
>>> then decided to try to run every file in my directory, it looks like.
>>> Ideas?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Tyler Littlefield
>>> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
>>> web: tysdomain-com
>>> Visit for quality software and web design.
>>> skype: st8amnd2005
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Speakup mailing list
>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Speakup mailing list
>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> 

Re: backup apparently not working

[Tyler Littlefield]

I am not running it from crontab. i'ts running from the command line.

Thanks,
Tyler Littlefield
email: tyler@tysdomain.com
web: tysdomain-com
Visit for quality software and web design.
skype: st8amnd2005

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kerry Hoath" <kerry@gotss.net>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 6:11 PM
Subject: Re: backup apparently not working


> Exactly what I said.
> Just because you execute a script from crontab does not mean it has all 
> environment variables set inside the script.
>
> Your script is relying on the fact that the HOME environment variable is 
> set, which i'm sure it is when you run the script from the command-line, 
> however it might not be the case when the script is run from cron.
>
> What user is running the crontab and what value do you expect HOME to be?
> Also is the script running under /bin/bash and is the backquote expantion 
> actually working?
> Modify your crontab so it echos your command into a temporary file so the 
> command that is executed is what you think it is.
> Regards, Kerry.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@tysdomain.com>
> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 8:33 AM
> Subject: Re: backup apparently not working
>
>
>> what do you mean is it set in the crontab? I just execute that script 
>> from crontab. it's the script that's not working.
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Tyler Littlefield
>> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
>> web: tysdomain-com
>> Visit for quality software and web design.
>> skype: st8amnd2005
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Kerry Hoath" <kerry@gotss.net>
>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
>> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
>> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 4:32 PM
>> Subject: Re: backup apparently not working
>>
>>
>>> Is HOME set correctly in the crontab?
>>>
>>> Regards, Kerry.
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@tysdomain.com>
>>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
>>> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
>>> Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 7:52 AM
>>> Subject: backup apparently not working
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hello,
>>>> First. I've partially figured out the problem.
>>>> It's throwing a fit about removing leading slash.
>>>> second, I've got the following line in a script:
>>>> tar -czvf ~/backups/valiant/`date '+%m-%d-%Y_%H'`.tar.gz 
>>>> ~/valiant/moo/db.db
>>>> when I ran that from the command line, it worked. when I tried to run 
>>>> it from a script, it "cowardly refused to create an empty archive," and 
>>>> then decided to try to run every file in my directory, it looks like.
>>>> Ideas?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Tyler Littlefield
>>>> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
>>>> web: tysdomain-com
>>>> Visit for quality software and web design.
>>>> skype: st8amnd2005
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Speakup mailing list
>>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Speakup mailing list
>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Speakup mailing list
>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup 

Re: backup apparently not working

[Tyler Littlefield]

sorry. not sure if i was specific enough from the first letter. it's 
supposed to run from cron, but as it's not even running from command, I 
haven't tried. :)

Thanks,
Tyler Littlefield
email: tyler@tysdomain.com
web: tysdomain-com
Visit for quality software and web design.
skype: st8amnd2005

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@tysdomain.com>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 6:36 PM
Subject: Re: backup apparently not working


>I am not running it from crontab. i'ts running from the command line.
>
> Thanks,
> Tyler Littlefield
> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
> web: tysdomain-com
> Visit for quality software and web design.
> skype: st8amnd2005
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kerry Hoath" <kerry@gotss.net>
> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 6:11 PM
> Subject: Re: backup apparently not working
>
>
>> Exactly what I said.
>> Just because you execute a script from crontab does not mean it has all 
>> environment variables set inside the script.
>>
>> Your script is relying on the fact that the HOME environment variable is 
>> set, which i'm sure it is when you run the script from the command-line, 
>> however it might not be the case when the script is run from cron.
>>
>> What user is running the crontab and what value do you expect HOME to be?
>> Also is the script running under /bin/bash and is the backquote expantion 
>> actually working?
>> Modify your crontab so it echos your command into a temporary file so the 
>> command that is executed is what you think it is.
>> Regards, Kerry.
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@tysdomain.com>
>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
>> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
>> Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 8:33 AM
>> Subject: Re: backup apparently not working
>>
>>
>>> what do you mean is it set in the crontab? I just execute that script 
>>> from crontab. it's the script that's not working.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Tyler Littlefield
>>> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
>>> web: tysdomain-com
>>> Visit for quality software and web design.
>>> skype: st8amnd2005
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Kerry Hoath" <kerry@gotss.net>
>>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
>>> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
>>> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 4:32 PM
>>> Subject: Re: backup apparently not working
>>>
>>>
>>>> Is HOME set correctly in the crontab?
>>>>
>>>> Regards, Kerry.
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>>> From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@tysdomain.com>
>>>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
>>>> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
>>>> Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 7:52 AM
>>>> Subject: backup apparently not working
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>> First. I've partially figured out the problem.
>>>>> It's throwing a fit about removing leading slash.
>>>>> second, I've got the following line in a script:
>>>>> tar -czvf ~/backups/valiant/`date '+%m-%d-%Y_%H'`.tar.gz 
>>>>> ~/valiant/moo/db.db
>>>>> when I ran that from the command line, it worked. when I tried to run 
>>>>> it from a script, it "cowardly refused to create an empty archive," 
>>>>> and then decided to try to run every file in my directory, it looks 
>>>>> like.
>>>>> Ideas?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Tyler Littlefield
>>>>> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
>>>>> web: tysdomain-com
>>>>> Visit for quality software and web design.
>>>>> skype: st8amnd2005
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Speakup mailing list
>>>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Speakup mailing list
>>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Speakup mailing list
>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Speakup mailing list
>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup 

Re: backup apparently not working

[Tyler Littlefield]

Hello,
I was kinda rushed with the last message.
First, I'm running the script from command line:
./backup.sh
the line in the script works great, but when I run it from the script, it 
says it's cowardly refusing to create empty archives.
Also, when it runs, it shows removing leading slash, and that's what's sent 
to me in my cron mail.
Is there a way I can direct errors to /dev/null from within the script?
This is what's happening to my crontab script with update, too.
It runs apt-get update
and then sends me mail with all the output--I've tried
apt-get update>/dev/null
Thanks, and sorry for all the questions--I'm not extremely familiar with 
bash scripts.
I'd be greatful if someone could supply a decent tutorial that they've found 
useful; I've found a few things, but they didn't go in to much depth.


Thanks,
Tyler Littlefield
email: tyler@tysdomain.com
web: tysdomain-com
Visit for quality software and web design.
skype: st8amnd2005

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@tysdomain.com>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 6:36 PM
Subject: Re: backup apparently not working


>I am not running it from crontab. i'ts running from the command line.
>
> Thanks,
> Tyler Littlefield
> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
> web: tysdomain-com
> Visit for quality software and web design.
> skype: st8amnd2005
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kerry Hoath" <kerry@gotss.net>
> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 6:11 PM
> Subject: Re: backup apparently not working
>
>
>> Exactly what I said.
>> Just because you execute a script from crontab does not mean it has all 
>> environment variables set inside the script.
>>
>> Your script is relying on the fact that the HOME environment variable is 
>> set, which i'm sure it is when you run the script from the command-line, 
>> however it might not be the case when the script is run from cron.
>>
>> What user is running the crontab and what value do you expect HOME to be?
>> Also is the script running under /bin/bash and is the backquote expantion 
>> actually working?
>> Modify your crontab so it echos your command into a temporary file so the 
>> command that is executed is what you think it is.
>> Regards, Kerry.
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@tysdomain.com>
>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
>> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
>> Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 8:33 AM
>> Subject: Re: backup apparently not working
>>
>>
>>> what do you mean is it set in the crontab? I just execute that script 
>>> from crontab. it's the script that's not working.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Tyler Littlefield
>>> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
>>> web: tysdomain-com
>>> Visit for quality software and web design.
>>> skype: st8amnd2005
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Kerry Hoath" <kerry@gotss.net>
>>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
>>> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
>>> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 4:32 PM
>>> Subject: Re: backup apparently not working
>>>
>>>
>>>> Is HOME set correctly in the crontab?
>>>>
>>>> Regards, Kerry.
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>>> From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@tysdomain.com>
>>>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
>>>> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
>>>> Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 7:52 AM
>>>> Subject: backup apparently not working
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>> First. I've partially figured out the problem.
>>>>> It's throwing a fit about removing leading slash.
>>>>> second, I've got the following line in a script:
>>>>> tar -czvf ~/backups/valiant/`date '+%m-%d-%Y_%H'`.tar.gz 
>>>>> ~/valiant/moo/db.db
>>>>> when I ran that from the command line, it worked. when I tried to run 
>>>>> it from a script, it "cowardly refused to create an empty archive," 
>>>>> and then decided to try to run every file in my directory, it looks 
>>>>> like.
>>>>> Ideas?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Tyler Littlefield
>>>>> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
>>>>> web: tysdomain-com
>>>>> Visit for quality software and web design.
>>>>> skype: st8amnd2005
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Speakup mailing list
>>>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Speakup mailing list
>>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Speakup mailing list
>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Speakup mailing list
>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup 

Re: backup apparently not working

[Chuck Hallenbeck]

Tyler,

How about replacing those tilde characters with the explicit home
information? e.g., /home/username/valiant, etc.

On the redirection, many commands produce output to both stdout and to
stderr. When you use > /dev/null, you are only redirecting stdout, not
stderr. To redirect both, use their file handles like this:

command arg1 arg2 1>/dev/null 2>&1

The 1 means stdout, but is assumed if omitted. The 2 means stderr, and
ampersand 1 means "the address of 1". So you are redirecting 1 to null,
and 2 to the same place.

HTH

Chuck


On Sat, Nov 08, 2008 at 12:41:38PM -0700, Tyler Littlefield wrote:
> Hello,
> I was kinda rushed with the last message.
> First, I'm running the script from command line:
> ./backup.sh
> the line in the script works great, but when I run it from the script, it 
> says it's cowardly refusing to create empty archives.
> Also, when it runs, it shows removing leading slash, and that's what's 
> sent to me in my cron mail.
> Is there a way I can direct errors to /dev/null from within the script?
> This is what's happening to my crontab script with update, too.
> It runs apt-get update
> and then sends me mail with all the output--I've tried
> apt-get update>/dev/null
> Thanks, and sorry for all the questions--I'm not extremely familiar with  
> bash scripts.
> I'd be greatful if someone could supply a decent tutorial that they've 
> found useful; I've found a few things, but they didn't go in to much 
> depth.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Tyler Littlefield
> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
> web: tysdomain-com
> Visit for quality software and web design.
> skype: st8amnd2005
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tyler Littlefield" 
> <tyler@tysdomain.com>
> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 6:36 PM
> Subject: Re: backup apparently not working
>
>
>> I am not running it from crontab. i'ts running from the command line.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Tyler Littlefield
>> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
>> web: tysdomain-com
>> Visit for quality software and web design.
>> skype: st8amnd2005
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kerry Hoath" <kerry@gotss.net>
>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux."  
>> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
>> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 6:11 PM
>> Subject: Re: backup apparently not working
>>
>>
>>> Exactly what I said.
>>> Just because you execute a script from crontab does not mean it has 
>>> all environment variables set inside the script.
>>>
>>> Your script is relying on the fact that the HOME environment variable 
>>> is set, which i'm sure it is when you run the script from the 
>>> command-line, however it might not be the case when the script is run 
>>> from cron.
>>>
>>> What user is running the crontab and what value do you expect HOME to be?
>>> Also is the script running under /bin/bash and is the backquote 
>>> expantion actually working?
>>> Modify your crontab so it echos your command into a temporary file so 
>>> the command that is executed is what you think it is.
>>> Regards, Kerry.
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tyler Littlefield" 
>>> <tyler@tysdomain.com>
>>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux."  
>>> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
>>> Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 8:33 AM
>>> Subject: Re: backup apparently not working
>>>
>>>
>>>> what do you mean is it set in the crontab? I just execute that 
>>>> script from crontab. it's the script that's not working.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Tyler Littlefield
>>>> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
>>>> web: tysdomain-com
>>>> Visit for quality software and web design.
>>>> skype: st8amnd2005
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kerry Hoath" <kerry@gotss.net>
>>>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux."  
>>>> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
>>>> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 4:32 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: backup apparently not working
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Is HOME set correctly in the crontab?
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards, Kerry.
>>>>>
>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tyler Littlefield" 
>>>>> <tyler@tysdomain.com>
>>>>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux."  
>>>>> <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
>>>>> Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 7:52 AM
>>>>> Subject: backup apparently not working
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>> First. I've partially figured out the problem.
>>>>>> It's throwing a fit about removing leading slash.
>>>>>> second, I've got the following line in a script:
>>>>>> tar -czvf ~/backups/valiant/`date '+%m-%d-%Y_%H'`.tar.gz  
>>>>>> ~/valiant/moo/db.db
>>>>>> when I ran that from the command line, it worked. when I tried 
>>>>>> to run it from a script, it "cowardly refused to create an 
>>>>>> empty archive," and then decided to try to run every file in my 
>>>>>> directory, it looks like.
>>>>>> Ideas?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>> Tyler Littlefield
>>>>>> email: tyler@tysdomain.com
>>>>>> web: tysdomain-com
>>>>>> Visit for quality software and web design.
>>>>>> skype: st8amnd2005
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> Speakup mailing list
>>>>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>>>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Speakup mailing list
>>>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Speakup mailing list
>>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Speakup mailing list
>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Speakup mailing list
>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup 
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

-- 
The Moon is Waxing Gibbous (76% of Full)

My web site: http://hallenbeck.ftml.net -- my telephone: 1-518-334-9022.
                                --------
The best defense against logic is ignorance.

Re: backup apparently not working

[luke]

On Sat, 8 Nov 2008, Tyler Littlefield wrote:

> First, I'm running the script from command line:
> ./backup.sh
> the line in the script works great, but when I run it from the script, it says
> it's cowardly refusing to create empty archives.

Almost certainly, it doesn't know where your home directory is, and 
therefore doesn't know how to expand the tilde.

Switch from using ~/whatever to $HOME/whatever, and make sure that $HOME 
is set.

> Also, when it runs, it shows removing leading slash, and that's what's sent to
> me in my cron mail.

You might find the -C (that's a cap C) option useful, to remove all this 
business of directories and slashes and relative paths.

> Is there a way I can direct errors to /dev/null from within the script?

You can, but it is rather inadvisable--you want to see errors, you just 
want not to see warnings.  You can get rid of warnings by using the 
command in a way that doesn't generate them.  The -C option is one way to 
achieve this.

"2> /dev/null" will redirect STDERR, if you really must.

> It runs apt-get update
> and then sends me mail with all the output--I've tried
> apt-get update>/dev/null

Forgive me, but you seem to have this urge to hide errors or unwanted 
output, rather than to run programs in a way which does not create them.
While that seems as if it should be the same thing, it is not, because 
such hiding can be distructive when real errors (no space left on device, 
could not read block, etc.) occur.

With apt-get (and most of the apt tools), a set of "-q" options, will get 
rid of all that updating output, and show you only real errors.  For 
example:

apt-get -q -q update

Probably "apt-get -qq update" will also work, although I haven't tried it, 
since I have all of this aliased.

Regards,

Luke