Cron service is masked

[Johannes]

Creating a bug report/issue

Required Information

• DietPi version | 8.16.2

• Distro version | bullseye

• Kernel version | Linux rock001 5.15.93-rockchip64 #23.02.2 SMP PREEMPT Fri Feb 17 23:48:36 UTC 2023 aarch64 GNU/Linux

• SBC model | ROCK Pi S (aarch64)

• Power supply used | 5V 3A Raspberry Pi USB C

• SD card used | [Netac Technology NT02P500PRO-032G-R A1 32 GB

Additional Information (if applicable)

• Software title | cron.service
• should be reproducable on fresh install

Steps to reproduce

Fresh install of Dietpi using Automation.

sudo systemctl status cron.service

Expected behaviour

● cron.service - Regular background program processing daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/cron.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2023-04-12 11:23:04 CEST; 37s ago
       Docs: man:cron(8)
   Main PID: 15130 (cron)
      Tasks: 1 (limit: 397)
     Memory: 400.0K
        CPU: 25ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/cron.service
             └─15130 /usr/sbin/cron -f

Actual behaviour

● cron.service
     Loaded: masked (Reason: Unit cron.service is masked.)
     Active: inactive (dead)

Extra details

Easily solved by unmasking the service. As a workaround for new service I added this to my_Automation_Custom_Script.sh_

# unamsk and enable cron service. Unclear why it is masked
sudo systemctl unmask cron.service
sudo systemctl enable cron.service
sudo systemctl start cron.service
sudo systemctl status cron.service

[Joulinar]

usually cron should not be masked.

@MichaIng could you have a look to ROCK Pi S image pls?

[MichaIng]

Uh, that may be something I have missed with the service start rework. Will generate new images which unmask cron during first run setup respectively without cron masked in the first place.

[Joulinar]

oh yes, just check on the new OrangePi 5 image. It is the same there. maybe we need to submit a change/fix for people who download images the last days?

[MichaIng]

Jep, its bad since live patches are pulled via cron (part of update check).

[MichaIng]

Solved:

• The installer won’t mask the service anymore. It wasn’t ever really necessary since it is stopped during updates and installs anyway: v8.16 · MichaIng/DietPi@ef5bba8 · GitHub
• New images are built: DietPi-Build · MichaIng/DietPi@ef5bba8 · GitHub
• Patches live patch to v8.16 systems: Live patch 0 v8.16 (#6311) · MichaIng/DietPi@195d9b6 · GitHub
• Patched with next DietPi update, in case the live patch has not been applied: https://github.com/MichaIng/DietPi/commit/8906c59

[Johannes]

Awesome fast response! Thanks for this and the great work in general!

We’re going to use dietpi as a part of a long term monitoring project for bats (listening to ultrasonic calls)…

Cheers!