Running python script from crontab

Question

I've got a python file called color.py that if I run using python color.py will work on a file. I can run it okay from the terminal but it doesn't get called from crontab. I've used chmod +x color.py to try and make it executable.

The py file does start with

#!/usr/bin/env python

and the cron command is

*/1 * * * * /root/images/color.py

• anneb: here are some hints: stackoverflow.com/questions/8727935/…. I think you have to change /usr/bin/env to /usr/bin/python (use 'which python' to discover where your python is)
• Aran-Fey: Have you tried to run it as /root/images/color.py?
• Samuel M.: @Rawing I can run it from images folder using python color.py
• Aran-Fey: @SamuelM. That's not what I asked - can you run it as /root/images/color.py?
• Samuel M.: @anneb tried changing to /usr/bin/python and chmod a+x hasn't worked

Answer 1

First check if following command works by running as user root (su or sudo):

/usr/bin/python /root/images/color.py

If that works, then edit crontab to:

*/1 * * * * /usr/bin/python /root/images/color.py

How do you check if the cron job succeeds or not?

• Samuel M.: the command works and it deletes a file(s) that's how I know the task's done
• anneb: do you reference the file to be deleted by its full path? Not delete 'myfile' but something like delete '/root/images/myfile' ?
• Samuel M.: using os.remove(filename) @anneb
• anneb: is ' filename' full path or not? If it is 'myfile' it will only work if you explicitly change the working dir to the directory containing the file, if it is '/root/images/myfile' then that should be ok
• Samuel M.: I've edited to this been more than a minute but the file still is there, I know if I run python color.py it's going to colour the image make a new file and delete the old one.