134 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
134 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
== Introduction
|
|
|
|
Whenever is a Ruby gem that provides a clear syntax for defining cron jobs. It outputs valid cron syntax and can even write your crontab file for you. It is designed to work well with Rails applications and can be deployed with Capistrano. Whenever works fine independently as well.
|
|
|
|
Ryan Bates created a great Railscast about Whenever: http://railscasts.com/episodes/164-cron-in-ruby
|
|
|
|
Discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/whenever-gem
|
|
|
|
== Installation
|
|
|
|
Regular (non-Rails) install:
|
|
|
|
$ gem sources -a http://gems.github.com #you only need to run this once
|
|
$ sudo gem install javan-whenever
|
|
|
|
In a Rails (2.1 or greater) application:
|
|
|
|
in your "config/environment.rb" file:
|
|
|
|
Rails::Initializer.run do |config|
|
|
config.gem 'javan-whenever', :lib => false, :source => 'http://gems.github.com'
|
|
end
|
|
|
|
To install this gem (and all other missing gem dependencies), run rake gems:install (use sudo if necessary).
|
|
|
|
In older versions of Rails:
|
|
|
|
$ gem sources -a http://gems.github.com #you only need to run this once
|
|
$ gem install javan-whenever
|
|
|
|
in your "config/environment.rb" file:
|
|
|
|
Rails::Initializer.run do |config|
|
|
...
|
|
end
|
|
|
|
require 'whenever'
|
|
|
|
NOTE: Requiring the whenever gem inside your Rails application is technically optional. However, if you plan to use something like Capistrano to automatically deploy and write your crontab file, you'll need to have the gem installed on your servers, and requiring it in your app is one way to ensure this.
|
|
|
|
== Getting started
|
|
|
|
$ cd /my/rails/app
|
|
$ wheneverize .
|
|
|
|
This will create an initial "config/schedule.rb" file you.
|
|
|
|
== Example schedule.rb file
|
|
|
|
every 3.hours do
|
|
runner "MyModel.some_process"
|
|
rake "my:rake:task"
|
|
command "/usr/bin/my_great_command"
|
|
end
|
|
|
|
every 1.day, :at => '4:30 am' do
|
|
runner "MyModel.task_to_run_at_four_thirty_in_the_morning"
|
|
end
|
|
|
|
every :hour do # Many shortcuts available: :hour, :day, :month, :year, :reboot
|
|
runner "SomeModel.ladeeda"
|
|
end
|
|
|
|
every :sunday, :at => '12pm' do # Use any day of the week or :weekend, :weekday
|
|
runner "Task.do_something_great"
|
|
end
|
|
|
|
More examples on the wiki: http://wiki.github.com/javan/whenever/instructions-and-examples
|
|
|
|
== Cron output
|
|
|
|
$ cd /my/rails/app
|
|
$ whenever
|
|
|
|
And you'll see your schedule.rb converted to cron sytax
|
|
|
|
== Capistrano integration
|
|
|
|
In your "config/deploy.rb" file do something like:
|
|
|
|
after "deploy:symlink", "deploy:update_crontab"
|
|
|
|
namespace :deploy do
|
|
desc "Update the crontab file"
|
|
task :update_crontab, :roles => :db do
|
|
run "cd #{release_path} && whenever --update-crontab #{application}"
|
|
end
|
|
end
|
|
|
|
This will update your crontab file, leaving any existing entries unharmed. When using the <code>--update-crontab</code> option, Whenever will only update the entries in your crontab file related to the current schedule.rb file. You can replace the <code>#{application}</code> with any identifying string you'd like. You can have any number of apps deploy to the same crontab file peacefully given they each use a different identifier.
|
|
|
|
If you wish to simply overwrite your crontab file each time you deploy, use the <code>--write-crontab</code> option. This is ideal if you are only working with one app and every crontab entry is contained in a single schedule.rb file.
|
|
|
|
By mixing and matching the <code>--load-file</code> and <code>--user</code> options with your various :roles in Capistrano it is entirely possible to deploy different crontab schedules under different users to all your various servers. Get creative!
|
|
|
|
If you want to override a variable (like your environment) at the time of deployment you can do so with the <code>--set</code> option: http://wiki.github.com/javan/whenever/setting-variables-on-the-fly
|
|
|
|
== Credit
|
|
|
|
Whenever was created for use at Inkling (http://inklingmarkets.com) where I work. Their take on it: http://blog.inklingmarkets.com/2009/02/whenever-easy-way-to-do-cron-jobs-from.html
|
|
|
|
While building Whenever, I learned a lot by digging through the source code of Capistrano - http://github.com/jamis/capistrano
|
|
|
|
== Discussion / Feedback / Issues / Bugs
|
|
|
|
For general discussion and questions, please use the google group: http://groups.google.com/group/whenever-gem
|
|
|
|
If you've found a genuine bug or issue, please use the Issues section on github: http://github.com/javan/whenever/issues
|
|
|
|
== License
|
|
|
|
Copyright (c) 2009 Javan Makhmali
|
|
|
|
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
|
|
obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation
|
|
files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without
|
|
restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
|
|
copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
|
|
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
|
|
Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
|
|
conditions:
|
|
|
|
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
|
|
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
|
|
|
|
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
|
|
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES
|
|
OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
|
|
NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
|
|
HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
|
|
WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
|
|
FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
|
|
OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
|