[PLUG] Cron advice needed

John Jason Jordan johnxj at comcast.net
Sat Apr 23 05:21:09 UTC 2016


Cron is too fancy (=confusing) for me, so I have always avoided it.
However, I recently wiped out my Inbox in Claws-Mail when I applied a
newly-created filter. I recovered some of the mail from a backup, but
about half was lost. It's not a big deal; just annoying. More to the
point, what if one of my future filter creations wipes out the hundreds
of messages that I have saved in other folders (e.g., my PLUG folder)?

On the Claws-Mail listserve it has been suggested to me that I use Cron
to back up my mail folders daily in the wee hours of the morning. The
proposal was to use:

   15 3 * * * cp -auf /home/<user>/Mail <backup_directory>

I think the '15 3' means 3:15 am, and the cp command is clear, but
'auf' means nothing to me, and I have other questions. For example,
where in Cron do I place this command? I see that Cron is running as I
write this, so so I just enter the above command (edited for locations,
of course) at a command line? How does the command line know I am
calling Cron? 

I tried the Cron man page, but it is hopeless to think that I will
understand much of it without massive study.

Suggestions welcome. :)



More information about the PLUG mailing list