Can Someone Please Help Me with Snow Leopard/Cron Jobs/Launchd?

[Amie]

I remember in Panther the cron jobs would not run if your computer was shut down or sleeping between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. so you needed a third-party app to run them. I've been doing some research since I now have a new MacBook Air with Snow Leopard, and I am finding conflicting information. Some say the cron jobs are now ran by OS X's Launchd and will run automatically when the computer wakes if it's shut down or sleeping between said hours. And other info is telling me that cron jobs STILL won't run unless you leave your computer on between said hours.

Please help! Which one is it? Do I need to install a third-party app to do this like I did with MacJanitor in Panther or does Snow Leopard take care of this for me?

 

[jbarley]

Amie, here is a free widget that runs in your Dashboard that'll tell you exactly when the cron scripts were last run.
It also allows you to manually run the scripts if you so choose.

 

[Amie]

Thank you! I loooove free widgets!
So it's true then? Snow Leopard does NOT run the cron jobs automatically upon waking the computer if you miss that 3 to 5 a.m. time slot? It still needs to be run manually just like with the old Panther OS? I read that Snow Leopard changed this but I guess they were wrong...... like I said, I've been reading mixed info.
Thanks again!

 

[jbarley]

Thank you! I loooove free widgets!
So it's true then? Snow Leopard does NOT run the cron jobs automatically upon waking the computer if you miss that 3 to 5 a.m. time slot? !

I'm not totally sure of that, but this widget will tell you what you need to know.
Shut your system down or let it sleep and then check the widget to see it the daily job runs.

 

[Satcomer]

Thank you! I loooove free widgets!
So it's true then? Snow Leopard does NOT run the cron jobs automatically upon waking the computer if you miss that 3 to 5 a.m. time slot? It still needs to be run manually just like with the old Panther OS? I read that Snow Leopard changed this but I guess they were wrong...... like I said, I've been reading mixed info.
Thanks again!

For some great free Dashboard widgets are iStat Pro & Delivery Status.

IMHO the best free alarm clock still is (and I use it for my everyday alarm clock) Alarm Clock It still works great in 10.6.7 and the beta of the next OS X ( Ops I shouldn't have said that ::angel:.

 

[Amie]

Oops, I think I posted my reply to this in my other thread. Wrong thread!

I wanted to thank you all for your help and let you know that I did in fact install Maintidget - what a wonderful little widget! And yes the cron jobs DO apparently run automatically with Snow Leopard, whether your computer is shut down, sleeping or running, because if it's sleeping or shut down between the hours that the cron jobs are set to run, 3 and 5 a.m., it will run them first thing when it's awakened. How do I know this? Because thanks to you and your recommendation of Maintidget, I SEE this info and I see that they did run when I woke my computer.

Thanks again, everyone!