Weird Issue with crontab.

UNIX HP-UX
1

Hello all,
Normally I'm pretty comfortable with crontab, changing and updating (done it many-a-time).
But in the last two days I've been pulling my hair out over the following...

Details of OS:
HP-UX mdirect B.11.23 U ia64 2587410573 unlimited-user license

Issue:
Execute a script (very similar to two pre-existing scripts - which are working) from root's crontab ...
05 16 * * * * nice ksh -c /usr/local/bin/space_chk_3 >> /usr1/log/root/cronlog/space_chk_3.log 2>&1
However it is returning the following... "sh: KEY.txt: Execute permission denied." to the cronlog file output.
KEY.txt happens to be the first normal file in the root (/) directory.

In the /var/adm/cron/log file I see the following with previous run attempts I did earlier today ...
< root 27991 c Tue Apr 8 12:05:00 EST 2008 rc=126
< root 28748 c Tue Apr 8 12:10:00 EST 2008 rc=126
< root 29501 c Tue Apr 8 12:18:00 EST 2008 rc=126

I'm nuttered to understand why crontab for the root user is doing this.
Any suggestions/assistance apreciated.

I'm a little concerned that the answer is sitting right in front of me and I'm at present too blind to see the cause.

2

Sad isn't it - one too many '*''s in the crontab entry.

Very sad - but fixed now.

3

I use this header at the top of the crontab file to help avoid such errors and make it easier to read

#Minute (0-59),
#|      Hour (0-23),
#|      |       Day of the month (1-31),
#|      |       |       Month of the year (1-12),
#|      |       |       |       Day of the week (0-6 with 0=Sunday).
#|      |       |       |       |       Commands
#|      |       |       |       |       |
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So your crontab will look something like this:

# sudo crontab -l
#ident  "@(#)root       1.21    04/03/23 SMI"
#
# The root crontab should be used to perform accounting data collection.
#
#
#Minute (0-59),
#|      Hour (0-23),
#|      |       Day of the month (1-31),
#|      |       |       Month of the year (1-12),
#|      |       |       |       Day of the week (0-6 with 0=Sunday).
#|      |       |       |       |       Commands
#|      |       |       |       |       |
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10      3       *       *       *       /usr/sbin/logadm
15      3       *       *       0       /usr/lib/fs/nfs/nfsfind
30      3       *       *       *       [ -x /usr/lib/gss/gsscred_clean ] && /usr/lib/gss/gsscred_clean
4

Hi Tornado,
Novel header, thanks for the suggestion.
But really, I just have to open my eyes a little wider. :wink:

Cheers,
Cameron