Question

Cronjobs, PHP, and predefined variables

Asked by: tkirby

I am running a cron job using a php script, like this:

#!/usr/bin/php -qec /usr/local/lib
<?
print "DOCUMENT_ROOT= \"$DOCUMENT_ROOT\"\n";
?>

The script executes perfectly, except none of the predefined variables, like DOCUMENT_ROOT are filled in.
Any ideas?

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Asked On
2002-12-05 at 18:31:33ID20417101
Tags

php

,

cronjobs

Topic

PHP Scripting Language

Participating Experts
3
Points
100
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: axis_imgPosted on 2002-12-05 at 21:14:22ID: 7540643

Just a quick observation...

My first thought is that you are running the PHP script via the php binary and bypassing apache (or whatever web server you are using), so DOCUMENT_ROOT should not be set. DOCUMENT_ROOT is a server variable, so for that to be set, I believe you would need to call the script via apache.

http://www.php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.php#reserved.variables.server

I have not tested that theory, but it just sounds like a feasible reason to me. If that is not the case, then I guess try using the globals array instead of the straight variable, in case you do not have register_globals turned on in your config.

For example:

#!/usr/bin/php -qec /usr/local/lib
<?
print "DOCUMENT_ROOT= " . $_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"] . "\n";
?>

I am not convinced that is going to work though, due to the reasons I stated above. Is this the only variable you were trying to get?

Barry

 

by: VGRPosted on 2002-12-06 at 03:54:25ID: 7541600

exactly

you could alternatively use, not the "standalone" php binary (a CGI exec.) but use the module in Apache (where all server variable would be set the way you said they should in httpd.conf) by using a small C program with the "fopen wrappers", trying to open("http://localhost/hereyoururl.php","r");

HTH

 

by: axis_imgPosted on 2002-12-06 at 10:29:49ID: 7543736

Just one more point... I have used this method a few times for various utilities... If you have lynx on that system, and the php file you have above is in a web-reachable location, then you could also do the following:

In your crontab entry, use somethink like this instead:

* * * * * /usr/local/bin/lynx -dump http://www.your.com/script.php | email_to_send_errors_to@your.com

This will cause Lynx to open the file through apache, rather than bypassing it. So all of the $_SERVER variables should be there for the script now.

Change the initial part of the crontab entry to point to the actual path of your Lynx binary. Also, remove the initial line in the script that points to the binary.

If you do not have Lynx, or the file cannot moved to a web-accessible location, then I am not sure of other options at this moment.

Regards,
Barry

 

by: SCeliaPosted on 2002-12-06 at 13:48:28ID: 7544805

Interesting, so if you need the server vars in php, using crontab won't work? Something to keep in mind for the future:)

 

by: axis_imgPosted on 2002-12-06 at 14:16:52ID: 7544948

Well... I guess the only point is that the $_SERVER variables will only be set if you invoke the php script via apache (or whatever server is being used). Otherwise, they will not be set, since there really isn't a "server" if you execute the php script by using the binary directly.

The method I mentioned above should help though, since what you are basically doing is executing the php script by having the Lynx browser open the php script through a normal HTTP call, which involves apache. Lynx can then dump the output of the php script to whatever you like...

In addition, I stumbled on this for a bit in the past, but say you are using Oracle (or anything that may need a system variable), and your PHP script needs the ORACLE_HOME and SID variables. If you are executing the script in the crontab, you may need to use the following at the top of the crontab so that your script will have it available when running.

export ORACLE_HOME

That should make the variable available to whatever is being called in the crontab. It will not work for DOCUMENT_ROOT in this case, however... since your system does not know what that is (it is server specific).

Regards,
Barry

 

by: tkirbyPosted on 2002-12-08 at 22:31:51ID: 7552713

Thanks Barry! Right on the mark. Using lynx restored all the $_SERVER variables. The pipe into the email address didn't work (shell error: unrecognized command?), but no matter. Cheers!

 

by: axis_imgPosted on 2002-12-09 at 22:09:58ID: 7558130

Heh. Oops. Sorry about that. I forgot to add "sendmail". It should have been:

* * * * * /usr/local/bin/lynx -dump http://www.your.com/script.php | sendmail email_to_send_output_to@your.com

You can also specify a MAILTO=email@your.com at the top of the crontab script.

Anyway... glad that helped.

Barry

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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