Subject: [bug#40950] Mcron originator: My opinion

From: Dale Mellor <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2020 13:43:03 +0100

Hello,

   for information I don't agree with having a central crond process
running on the system.  I put it in mcron only for compatibility with
legacy crons, but think that it is *much* better for each service which
needs one, and each user, to run their own private daemon and manage their
own configuration.  The reasons include:

  * reliability: one faulty client or scheme configuration clause is less
likely to make the system unavailable to others;
  * security: UNIX users can only mess with their own configurations, and
there is no need for any SUID programs;
  * safety: I think the mcron personality gets much more use in practice,
hence is tested by many more people;
  * efficiency: using the legacy crontab directories means that the daemon
has to wake up and scan all these files once per minute, even if the
actions are only performed once per day or even once per month;
  * convenience: I think it is actually simpler all round to have separate
configurations for each utility that needs cron service, rather than
splicing and editing existing central system-wide files.

   Basically, all these things are the reasons I developed mcron in the
first place.

   As an aside, I would love to be able to pull out all of the legacy
compatibility stuff from the mcron code, as it would massively simplify my
life!  (Don't worry, it probably won't happen).

Kind regards,
Dale Mellor