> Run this Weekly: This re-builds locate database & Rotates Log Files.
> sudo sh /etc/weekly
>
> This one Daily: Remove Scratch & Junk Files, Backup NetInfo Data.
> sudo sh /etc/daily
>
> This one Monthly: Does log-in Accounting Rotates log File wtmp
> sudo sh /etc/monthly
These are the standard FreeBSD cleanup scripts. They're run out
of crontab. However, the UNIX "cron" job, unlike whatever it is that
runs, say, System Update, doesn't immediately run jobs whose time has
passed when you start up the machine. That is, System Update runs as
soon as you boot the machine, if the schedule says it would have run
during the time the machine was off. "cron" doesn't do that. Some old
versions used to, but the sorts of things "cron" runs in a typical
UNIX installation were a disaster if run at the wrong time. So, they
ripped that behavior out.
This means that unless you leave your machine on 24/7, the jobs
listed above will very rarely run. "monthly" isn't too important for
a single-user machine, and you can live without "daily" pretty well, though
you should run it once in a while. "weekly", though, is a godsend, because
of the "locate" database, which takes bl**dy forever to rebuild. But once
built, "locate" lets you find any file in the file system immediately, by
name. Try it in a Terminal window. You'll never use "Find..." again!
Of course, it's using a database that's as old as the last time "weekly"
was run. That's the downside.
Mike O'Brien
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