[SOLVED] Mono executable file will not run from crontab on Mac

Issue

I am trying to get a mono executable file to run automatically at a specific time each day, however it will not run from crontab.

Using crontab -e I have set the following scheduled task:

10 15 * * * (cd ~/Documents/automation && bash auto_run.sh)

Inside the auto_run.sh file I have the following:

#!/bin/bash
echo “`date “+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S”` : auto run starting >> auto_run_logging.txt

mono /Users/admin/Projects/auto_task/auto_task/bin/Debug/auto_task.exe

echo “`date “+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S”` : auto run ending >> auto_run_logging.txt

I have used chmod +x on the files to make sure they execute.

At the scheduled time the date/time messages can be seen in the text file but the mono executable does not run. Running the file directly from the terminal with bash auto_run.sh works perfectly.

Any help would be appreciated. I am using macOS Mojave

Solution

This is happening because mono is not able to find the path where it should run from inside the cron.

Either you can put the path in .bash_profile and source it while running the cron. Or run which mono and mention the path inside script from where it is running the mono command.

Command :

which mono # It will give you path where mono is present.

Script would be :

#!/bin/bash
echo “`date “+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S”` : auto run starting >> auto_run_logging.txt

/path/to/mono/mono /Users/admin/Projects/auto_task/auto_task/bin/Debug/auto_task.exe

echo “`date “+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S”` : auto run ending >> auto_run_logging.txt

Another way is, Put mono path in .bash_profile and run the cron like this :

10 15 * * * . ~/.bash_profile; (cd ~/Documents/automation && bash auto_run.sh)

Answered By - Pacifist