this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2025
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Systemd timers or classic cron? (self.linux)
submitted 1 month ago by cm0002 to c/linux@programming.dev
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Just learned of timers the other day, but I'm a cron guy, anybody out there using timers? Anything I'm missing out on?

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[โ€“] e8d79@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

My number one reason for using systemd timers is just that I find it more readable than cron. Usually I want to run things daily, weekly or monthlyand systemd timers make that very easy.

Here is an example:

backup.timer

[Unit]
Description=Run backup database daily

[Timer]
OnCalendar=daily
RandomizedDelaySec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

backup.service

[Unit]
Description=Backup database

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/bin/bash /path/to/backupscript.sh

Another great feature is that the output of the script is logged to journald which is very convenient when you are troubleshooting why your backup failed last night.

[โ€“] nous@programming.dev 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You can also easily see when the job last ran, if it was successful and when it will next run. As well as just trigger the service if you want it to run now.

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