Rclone script won’t run in crontab

Help and Support
1

Hi!
I want to synchronize photos taken on Raspberry Pi to Google Drive.
The capture_photo.sh script works automatically using crontab, but the rclone.sh script, which should upload the photo to google drive, only works if I run it terminal(not when crontab is running).

[capture_photo.sh]
#!/bin/bash
for ((i=1; i<=10; i++))
do
timestamp=$(data +%y%m%d_%H%M%S)
filename="/home/pi/Farm/p_$timestamp.jpg"
sudo libcamera-still --immediate -o $filename
sleep 2
done

[rclone.sh]
#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/rclone copy "/home/pi/Farm" "sfpj:/sf" &

[sudo crontab -e]
0 10 * * * /home/pi/capture_photo.sh
2 10 * * * /home/pi/rclone.sh > /home/pi/cron.log 2>&1

It was originally
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ rclone config file
Configuration file is stored at:
/home/pi/.config/rclone/rclone.conf
, but I changed it to
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ rclone config file
Configuration file is stored at:
/opt/rclone/rclone.conf
using
sudo mkdir -p /opt/rclone(Because there was no "/opt/rclone" file.)
sudo mv /home/pi/.config/rclone/rclone.conf /opt/rclone/rclone.conf
.
And
export RCLONE_CONFIG=/opt/rclone/rclone.conf
did.

Then, when I run crontab, an error(Failed to load config file "/opt/rclone/rclone.conf": open /opt/rclone/rclone.conf: permission denied) appears.

Is it wrong to change it like that?
Since I did it like that, nothing worked as it should have... What should i do?
(I am a beginner and a student. I would appreciate it if you could provide as much detail as possible.)

2

It is not really rclone problem but basic Linux permissions issues.

include log file in debug mode and it will tell you what the problem is.

3

How do I do that?

4

Actually you have your answer already above. Adjust permissions so your crontab user can access this file.

If not sure what you are doing then I recommend you do not change files locations.

5

Permission to access files? How do that? Using chmod?

And if i don't change files locations, do I have to proceed with /home/pi/~ as is it?

6

Yes you can use chmod.

The key is - wherever you put your file make sure that user your rclone runs under crontab has access to it.

What was the reason you moved it to /opt?

7

Can I use
chmod -x /opt/rclone/rclone.conf
(or in original chmod -x /home/pi/.config/rclone/rclone.conf)
?

I search for related this problems and tried because there was a way like that.

8

You have root access to your system and you use it so you should learn what you are doing. There is no other way.

9

umm I still don't know how to solve it... Can you tell me how to do it directly with an example?

Unfortunately, I have to do it by tomorrow.. So I'm in a hurry.

10

Can you explain why you decided to move it to /opt folder?

You can move any files anywhere really - but if you are doing it you should understand some basics I am afraid. If not just do not.

11

There's no big reason. I search google to solve the problem, and I saw a comment that was written like that on a similar problem to mine. So I tried it.
If I don't have to do it like that, don't have to move it.

(i would appreciate it if you could continue to help me.)

12

For consistenacy change:

[rclone.sh]
#!/bin/sh

To

[rclone.sh]
#!/bin/bash

Also, in crontab try

0 10 * * * /home/pi/capture_photo.sh >/dev/null 2>&1
2 10 * * * /home/pi/rclone.sh > /home/pi/cron.log

Specifiy your config file. Remember crontab you have setup as root not user. Add

--config=/path/to/rclone.conf

To the script. e.g. rclone copy /dir remote: --config=/etc/etc/

if you do not want to do that, change user in crontab:

2 10 * * * pi /home/pi/rclone.sh > /home/pi/cron.log 2>&1

Report back

Thanks.

13

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