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Fcron

Revision as of 17:47, 1 April 2010

fcron is standard Linux scheduler used to schedule any command at any time. So this means that it doesn't have any limits and you can schedule just about anything. It is run as daemon in the background so you don't need to worry about it. You set it up with a config file which contains schedule.

Alternatives

cron

Why not: cron is older than fcron and doesn't sleep between events.

anacron

Why not: anacron is used to schedule daily jobs, fcron can schedule to minutes.

ses

Why not: ses is buggy, buggy and buggy. It doesn't even uninstall properly.

Alarmed

Alarmed is the best alternative which has a GUI, but doesn't have CLI. You can use custom command so you can schedule anything, but you can't schedule it anytime like with fcron, because alarmd daemon doesn't provide an option for every possible time. The GUI also needs python, which consumes disk space.

Current issues

1. Current version for Maemo is not the latest available (although the difference is minor).

2. When you edit fcrontab it wants to execute vi from /scratchbox (editor variable has to be defined manually each time fcrontab is run).

3. Some stuff has to be done manually after the installation (with proper packaging the whole "Installation" chapter from this wiki would be unnecessary).

4. It needs to be added to official maemo.org repositories so it can be used by anyone (it is currently availible in user ruskie's repository).

But these are not major things and as you can see it can be used already - current solutions and workarounds are in (brackets). Otherwise it's stable, does not have important bugs and does not affect battery life at all. It's a mature software which just needs some manual work.

Installation

Everything should be done from root terminal. First you need to download the .deb from ruskie's repository. Put it somewhere on the device and execute the following commands, one by one:

dpkg -i /path/to/deb/fcron_3.0.1-2_armel_opt.deb
apt-get install adduser
adduser fcron
rm -r /home/fcron
chown root:fcron /etc/fcron.*
chmod 644 /etc/fcron.*
chown -R fcron:fcron /var/spool/fcron
/etc/init.d/fcron start
vi /etc/event.d/rcS-late

Last command opens rcS-late in vi text editor. You can use other text editor if you wish. After the line 38, which contains "initctl emit MOUNTS_OK" insert in a new line:

/etc/init.d/fcron start

And save this file. This makes fcron run at startup.

Configuration

fcrontab is a program which parses config file so fcron daemon can use it. It is used to modify schedule. From the root terminal first define the editor. This has to be done every time fcrontab is used.

export EDITOR=vi

Again, you can use another editor. Next, fcrontab must be executed in edit mode:

fcrontab -e

The config file opens and it is empty first time we open it. Now we will enter commands we would like to schedule. An example config file looks like:

!nolog(true)

# COMMENT
0 9 * * 1-5 run-standalone.sh /path/to/script/silent_profile.sh
<more scheduled scripts>

!bootrun(true)
0 0 1 * * /path/to/script/reset_gprs_data_counter.sh
<a backup script also suits here if you have one>

!nolog(true) is the first line and specifies that successful executions aren't logged (we really don't need or want that). Also, if we use a script with dbus call, run-standalone.sh must be in front of it. It sets up environment variables correctly for sending dbus calls as root. !bootrun(true) specifies that commands after this line are executed at next boot if system wasn't on when they should be executed. This is useful only for clearing the GPRS counter or backup scripts, for example if you switch the phone off every night the GPRS counter will still be reset every first of the month when you turn the phone on in the morning.

The first five fields are separated by a space:

MINUTE space HOUR space DAY_OF_MONTH space MONTH space DAY_OF_WEEK space /path/script.sh

To interpret the two example lines: GPRS data counter is reset every 1st of the month at 00:00. Silent profile is set every Monday to Friday at 9:00. Possible values for fields are:

Minute: 0-59

Hour: 0-23

Day of month: 1-31

Month: 1-12

Day of week: 0-7 (0 and 7 are both Sunday)

Asterisk (*) means "any", or to put it differently: it means that this value does not define when the command is run.

After saving the edited config file, fcrontab will install it automatically and it will work from that moment on. Also don't forget that commenting out lines is useful for temporarily disabling a command. Just put an # in front of the line.

Scripts

So we have fcron now executing scripts at defined time. But we still need to provide scripts that are executed. Here is a collection of them, but you can easily make new ones based on the example scripts here and Phone control wiki page. Don't forget to add them here though. And keep in mind that they have to be marked executable (chmod +x script.sh) to work. The second dbus call in some scripts is a notification and can me modified, removed or added.

Profiles

Silent

#!/bin/sh
dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.profiled /com/nokia/profiled com.nokia.profiled.set_profile string:"silent"
dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.Notifications /org/freedesktop/Notifications org.freedesktop.Notifications.SystemNoteInfoprint string:"Profile is set to Silent"

General

#!/bin/sh
dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.profiled /com/nokia/profiled com.nokia.profiled.set_profile string:"general"
dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.Notifications /org/freedesktop/Notifications org.freedesktop.Notifications.SystemNoteInfoprint string:"Profile is set to General"

Radio mode

2G

#!/bin/sh
dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.phone.net /com/nokia/phone/net Phone.Net.set_selected_radio_access_technology byte:1
dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.Notifications /org/freedesktop/Notifications org.freedesktop.Notifications.SystemNoteInfoprint string:"Network mode is set to 2G"

3G

#!/bin/sh
dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.phone.net /com/nokia/phone/net Phone.Net.set_selected_radio_access_technology byte:2
dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.Notifications /org/freedesktop/Notifications org.freedesktop.Notifications.SystemNoteInfoprint string:"Network mode is set to 3G"

Dual

#!/bin/sh
dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.phone.net /com/nokia/phone/net Phone.Net.set_selected_radio_access_technology byte:0
dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.Notifications /org/freedesktop/Notifications org.freedesktop.Notifications.SystemNoteInfoprint string:"Network mode is set to Dual"

Networking

Disconnect internet connection

#!/bin/sh
dbus-send --system --dest=com.nokia.icd /com/nokia/icd_ui com.nokia.icd_ui.disconnect boolean:true
dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.Notifications /org/freedesktop/Notifications org.freedesktop.Notifications.SystemNoteInfoprint string:"Internet connection is disconnected"

Disconnect mobile network

#!/bin/sh
dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.phone.SSC /com/nokia/phone/SSC com.nokia.phone.SSC.set_radio boolean:false
dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.Notifications /org/freedesktop/Notifications org.freedesktop.Notifications.SystemNoteInfoprint string:"Mobile network is disconnected"

Connect mobile network

#!/bin/sh
dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.phone.SSC /com/nokia/phone/SSC com.nokia.phone.SSC.set_radio boolean:true
dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.Notifications /org/freedesktop/Notifications org.freedesktop.Notifications.SystemNoteInfoprint string:"Mobile network is connected"

Securing device

Lock

#!/bin/sh
dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.system_ui /com/nokia/system_ui/request com.nokia.system_ui.request.devlock_open string:"com.nokia.mce" string:"/com/nokia/mce/request" string:"com.nokia.mce.request" string:"devlock_callback" uint32:'3'

Unlock

#!/bin/sh
dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.system_ui /com/nokia/system_ui/request com.nokia.system_ui.request.devlock_close string:"com.nokia.mce" string:"/com/nokia/mce/request" string:"com.nokia.mce.request" string:"devlock_callback" uint32:'0'

Reset GPRS data counter

#!/bin/sh
gconftool-2 -u /system/osso/connectivity/network_type/GPRS/gprs_rx_bytes
gconftool-2 -u /system/osso/connectivity/network_type/GPRS/gprs_tx_bytes
gconftool-2 -s /system/osso/connectivity/network_type/GPRS/gprs_reset_time --type=string $(date +%s)

Update e-mail

This script has already necessary run-standalone.sh prefixes so the whole script does not need to be run through run-standalone.sh in fcrontab. But you need to insert proper IAP_ID in the script.

What it does is that it checks whether the phone is connected to the internet and if it is, send and receive is performed and if it is not, the defined connection (IAP_ID) is used to connect, then send and receive is performed and script waits about minute and a half (Modest e-mail client which N900 uses is slow in this aspect) and then disconnects internet.

#!/bin/sh
get=`route | awk '/au/ {print $1}'`
if [ `echo $get` = default ]; then
run-standalone.sh dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.modest /com/nokia/modest com.nokia.modest.SendReceive
else
run-standalone.sh dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.Notifications /org/freedesktop/Notifications org.freedesktop.Notifications.SystemNoteInfoprint string:"Updating e-mail"
run-standalone.sh dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.icd /com/nokia/icd com.nokia.icd.connect string:"IAP_ID" uint32:0
sleep 10
run-standalone.sh dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.modest /com/nokia/modest com.nokia.modest.SendReceive
sleep 90
run-standalone.sh dbus-send --system --dest=com.nokia.icd /com/nokia/icd_ui com.nokia.icd_ui.disconnect boolean:true
run-standalone.sh dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.Notifications /org/freedesktop/Notifications org.freedesktop.Notifications.SystemNoteInfoprint string:"E-mail updated"
fi

Backup

The scripts used for backing up can be found on Manual backup and restore wiki page. They overlap with scripts needed here, so they should be collected there.

Reboot

Just put it directly in fcrontab:

0 0 * * * reboot

And never put it after !bootrun(true) line in fcrontab!

Also remember that PIN has to be entered after a reboot. There is another way with sending reboot call via D-Bus which doesn't request to reenter PIN, but that is a forced reboot (no filesystem synchronization, etc.) and thus not the proper way of doing it.

Tweakr profiles

This script is not tested yet. Also you must replace both "tweakrprofile" instances with the name of your profile (which should not be general or silent and should not be capitalized).

#!/bin/sh

DBUSSET="dbus-send --print-reply --dest='com.nokia.profiled' /com/nokia/profiled com.nokia.profiled.set_value string:general string:\'%s\' string:\'%s\'"

dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.profiled /com/nokia/profiled com.nokia.profiled.set_profile string:"general"

gconftool-2 -s /system/tweakr/current-preset --type=string "tweakrprofile"
gconftool-2 -a /system/tweakr/tweakrprofile|sed 's/^ //'|sed 's/ = /=/'|awk -F'=' "{cmd=sprintf(\"${DBUSSET}\", \$1, \$2);system(cmd)}"

Auto 2G with WiFi

#!/bin/sh
#
# auto2g by J.LeFebvre
#
# Automatically sets 2G cellular mode when a valid WiFi connection is running
# This helps conserve battery life
#
# If an automatic connection to 3G is required when not on WiFi then uncomment the two dbus commands under "set to 3G" line
#
if `/sbin/ifconfig wlan0 2>/dev/null | grep -q RUNNING`; then
   if `dbus-send --system --print-reply --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.phone.net /com/nokia/phone/net Phone.Net.get_selected_radio_access_technology | grep -q 'byte 2'`; then
      if (/bin/ping -c 1 www.google.com > /dev/null); then
         # set to 2G
         dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.phone.net /com/nokia/phone/net Phone.Net.set_selected_radio_access_technology byte:1
         dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.Notifications /org/freedesktop/Notifications org.freedesktop.Notifications.SystemNoteInfoprint string:'2G (GSM) cellular mode set'
      fi
   fi;
else
   if `dbus-send --system --print-reply --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.phone.net /com/nokia/phone/net Phone.Net.get_selected_radio_access_technology | grep -q 'byte 1'`; then
      # set to 3G
      # dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.phone.net /com/nokia/phone/net Phone.Net.set_selected_radio_access_technology byte:2
      # dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.Notifications /org/freedesktop/Notifications org.freedesktop.Notifications.SystemNoteInfoprint string:'3G cellular mode set'
      echo  > /dev/null
   fi
fi