Cronjob with php script to execute bash command

Question

I have a cronjob that executes a this php script. The check for the httpStatus works fine. The Big problem is the execution of the bash command. (else) Is there something wrong?

<?php
    $url = "https://xxx";

  $handle = curl_init($url);
  curl_setopt($handle,  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, TRUE);
  
  /* Get the HTML or whatever is linked in $url. */
  $response = curl_exec($handle);
  
  /* Check for 404 (file not found). */
  $httpCode = curl_getinfo($handle, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
  
  if($httpCode == 200) {
      /* Handle 200 here. */
      $output = "Status 200 OK";
  }
  else{
      $output = shell_exec('cd public_html/redmine/ && bundle exec ruby bin/rails server -b webrick -e production -d');
      
  }
  
  curl_close($handle);
  
  /* Handle $response here. */

echo($output);


  ?>

Cron runs from another directory (possibly root), so you need to change your cd to the absolute path — aynber
– aynber, Commented Sep 24, 2021 at 13:49
If I understand it right: The script will execute not at it‘s own place... It will execute at the directory where the crontab is defined ? @aynber — user14126119
– user14126119, Commented Sep 24, 2021 at 14:38
Correct. If you've defined it in crontab -e, it will start in the user's directory, but if it's the master cron, then it won't be. It's always smart to use absolute paths when dealing with cron — aynber
– aynber, Commented Sep 24, 2021 at 14:48
Thank you now the cronjob workes perfectly (with absolut path) — user14126119
– user14126119, Commented Sep 24, 2021 at 15:47
An off-topic side note: You should definitely use systemd .timer units instead of cronjobs. They give you much more control and flexibility, security hardening options etc. — Andrej Podzimek
– Andrej Podzimek, Commented Sep 26, 2021 at 1:41

mariosimao · Accepted Answer · 2021-09-24 17:22:58Z

0

I would recommend changing to an absolute path on the cd command, something like:

cd /home/my-user/public_htm/redmine ...

When you run a PHP script, the relative path is from where the script was executed and not the location of the PHP file.

For example, if you are running php ./public_html/my-cronjob.php from inside of /home/my-user, the current working directory (CWD) would be /home/my-user instead of /home/my-user/public_html. Any cd command is executed relatively to your CWD.

The current working directory can be checked with getcwd().

You could achieve the same result by using __DIR__ which gives you the directory of the PHP file.

if($httpCode == 200) {
    /* Handle 200 here. */
    $output = "Status 200 OK";
} else {
    $serverDir = __DIR__ . "/public_html/redmine";
    $output = shell_exec("cd {$serverDir} && bundle exec ruby bin/rails server -b webrick -e production -d");  
}

edited Sep 24, 2021 at 17:22

answered Sep 24, 2021 at 14:39

mariosimao

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2 Comments

user14126119 Over a year ago

Thank you this Explantation helped me very much :)

mariosimao Over a year ago

You're welcome! Happy to help :)

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