cron(8) (∞)

OpenBSD’s cron(8) daemon can randomize values (~), and prevent multiple jobs from running concurrently (-s). Super useful additions that all cron implementations should have had forever.

For example “030” will result in a random value between 0 and 30 inclusive. If either (or both) of the numbers on either side of the ‘’ are omitted, the appropriate limit (low or high) for the field will be used.

Example:

0~30 1 * * * [-nsq] echo foo

These features are included in OpenBSD 6.7.

Details:

• OpenBSD_src on Twitter
• ~ Operator (marc.info)
• -s Operator (marc.info)

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