cron troubles

So I am trying to run a script on start up every minute. I have added the bash script to my /etc/init.d/ directory and updated my rc.d file with the update command and used the defualts. So in order to run the script every minute I am attempting to use crontab. I opened crontab with sudo crontab -e and entered * * * * * sh /path/to/script.sh and it does not work. Google shows a lot of people have this same issue but I cannot seem to find a solution. Mostly suggestions. What am I doing wrong? Is there an easier approach?

How much of the manual page have you read?

I see a couple of choice comments which deserve further work for you.

Quote:

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If the /etc/cron.allow file exists, then you must be listed therein in order to be allowed to use this command. If the /etc/cron.allow file does not
exist but the /etc/cron.deny file does exist, then you must not be listed in the /etc/cron.deny file in order to use this command. If neither of
these files exists, then depending on site-dependent configuration parameters, only the super user will be allowed to use this command, or all users
will be able to use this command. For standard Debian systems, all users may use this command.
...
BUGS
Although cron requires that each entry in a crontab end in a newline character, neither the crontab command nor the cron daemon will detect this
error. Instead, the crontab will appear to load normally. However, the command will never run. The best choice is to ensure that your crontab has a
blank line at the end.

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Also, check the cron daemon is actually configured to run on your system

Code:

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$ ps -A | grep cron
 1169 ?        00:00:00 cron

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Also, does your script rely on the full set of environment variables (like $PATH) to be setup?
The environment that cron provides to your script is positively spartan compared to what you get at your bash prompt.

I couldn't figure out how to get cron to run so i am using watch.

sudo apt-get install screen
screen watch -n 60 /path/to/script.sh

The cron daemon isn't automatically ran on startup. i use pgrep to find if there is a running cron daemon but none are found. My solution is working. I only need to manually run it the first time. Thanks Salem!

Then to run it i the background hit control + a then control + d

Why not just make crond start at boot: Linux Start Restart and Stop The Cron or Crond Service.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by anduril462

Why not just make crond start at boot: Linux Start Restart and Stop The Cron or Crond Service.

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For one, cron is not running on start up. Two, I cannot find anything with the name crond on my system. No daemon is even present. Even when i manually start cron, my programs won't work anyway. So, why mess with cron and frustrate myself, when what i am doing is already working??

BTW, I read that page prior to this post. Along with many others.

My apologies, cron is the daemon. Many daemons have the 'd' as a suffix to signify they are the daemon, I typed it as a reflex.