# Executing rake tasks with cron **URL:** \ **Category:** Deployment\ **Created:** [January 14, 2008, 10:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-rake-tasks-with-cron/125969 "2008-01-14T10:12:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stanislavb)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 10:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-rake-tasks-with-cron/125969/1 "2008-01-14T10:12:28Z")
Hi, I have a kind of problems with executing rake tasks as cron jobs. These problems began after upgrading to Rails 2.0.2. # So, these are the errors that I have # Cannot find gem for Rails ~\>2.0.2.0: Install the missing gem with ‘gem install -v=2.0.2 rails’, or change environment.rb to define RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION with your desired version. I have this setup: # a bash script: # [bin]# cat promote\_from\_queue\_rake.sh #!/bin/bash cd /var/apps/myapp/current rake cron:promote\_stories\_from\_queue RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION=2.0.2 This script is executed by a cron job and I get the above errors. In fact, the code in the rake task executes, however I can not figure out why that problems occure. I have Rails get 2.0.2 installed and this line in my environment.rb: RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION = ‘2.0.2’ unless defined? RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION If someone has any ideas how to stop those errors, plese help. 10x in advance ---
**Author:** ![stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stanislavb)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 12:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-rake-tasks-with-cron/125969/2 "2008-01-14T12:02:43Z")
You can start by running the rake with ‘-t’ to see where exactly it fails and to see the backtrace. Then I would put some “puts RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION” in a couple of places (starting with before and after that line from environment.rb). (you need to redirect the rake output to some log file to see those prints.) On Jan 14, 11:12 am, Stanislav B. \ **Author:** ![stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stanislavb)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-rake-tasks-with-cron/125969/3 "2008-01-14T14:32:06Z") Well, if I run the task manually from the command line there’re no errors. I receive that errors my mail. Only when the task has been run by crond. \*/10 \* \* \* \* mongrel /var/apps/myapp/bin/promote\_from\_queue\_rake.sh Maybe the problem is somewhere in cron’s environment ? ---
**Author:** ![stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stanislavb)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-rake-tasks-with-cron/125969/4 "2008-01-14T16:37:13Z")
Thank U Jason, I’ll try it. What about the variables that are set in environment.rb? I thought that “RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION = ‘2.0.2’ unless defined? RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION” (in env.rb) is enough. I have a full path to the bash script in my crontab. \*/10 \* \* \* \* mongrel /var/apps/myapp/bin/promote\_from\_queue\_rake.sh ---
**Author:** ![stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stanislavb)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-rake-tasks-with-cron/125969/5 "2008-01-14T15:09:41Z")
Cron by default has a very minimalist environment. If you need something like RUBY\_INCLUDE\_PATH, you’ll need to add it to your crontab. And it is good practice to either specify the PATH you need, or to type in the full path of the executable you are trying to run. Jason On Jan 14, 2008 8:32 AM, Stanislav B. \< ---
**Author:** ![stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stanislavb)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-rake-tasks-with-cron/125969/6 "2008-01-14T23:28:39Z")
If it works ok when you run directly, but not from cron, then for sure, you need to spell out the full paths of all commands: both the command run from crontab, _and_ the commands inside your script. So - if you run rake inside your script, then it will need /full/path/to/rake… Tony On 14/01/2008, Stanislav B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > > – Tony White ---
**Author:** ![stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stanislavb)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-rake-tasks-with-cron/125969/7 "2008-01-14T17:36:15Z")
Hi again, My crontab looks like this, now: RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION=2.0.2 0 \* \* \* \* mongrel /var/apps/svejo.net/bin/promote\_stories\_rake.sh The rake task executes successfully, however I continue to receive errors on my mail. Like those: Cannot find gem for Rails ~\>2.0.2.0: Install the missing gem with ‘gem install -v=2.0.2 rails’, or change environment.rb to define RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION with your desired version. I’ve defined RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION in the environment.rb configuration, so I just don’t have any ideas how too fix this. Any ideas and help are appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stanislavb)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-rake-tasks-with-cron/125969/8 "2008-01-15T22:06:52Z")
Well, as a normal user, I don’t have RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION exported and don’t get those errors. # In fact I’m passing that var as an input for the rake task: #!/bin/bash cd /var/apps/myapp/current rake cron:promote\_stories\_from\_queue RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION=2.0.2 I’ll continue to experiment. However I just don’t have any ideas what to test… ---
**Author:** ![stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stanislavb)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-rake-tasks-with-cron/125969/9 "2008-01-14T23:31:35Z")
oh - and you can’t put stuff in crontab like RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION=2.0.2 - that must be in your script, and exported T On 14/01/2008, Stanislav B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > > – Tony White SpeechNet Technologies Ltd ---
**Author:** ![stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stanislavb)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 9:46am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-rake-tasks-with-cron/125969/10 "2008-01-21T09:46:07Z")
Tony, thank you for your answer. In fact I stopped receiving those error messages. However, I can not give a clear explanation to myself about this problem. Why it did occurred… If I understand something more, I’ll write here for the help of someone else. ---
**Author:** ![stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stanislavb)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-rake-tasks-with-cron/125969/11 "2008-01-15T23:11:03Z")
on my system: tony@gutsy:~$ whereis rake rake: /usr/bin/rake so you need: #!/bin/bash cd /var/apps/myapp/current /usr/bin/rake cron:promote\_stories\_from\_queue RAILS\_GEM\_VERSION=2.0.2 if your rake is in the same place as mine. Best of luck, Tony On 16/01/2008, Stanislav B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > ## I’ll continue to experiment. However I just don’t have any ideas what to test… > > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > > – Tony White ---
**Author:** ![stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stanislavb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stanislavb)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 4:57am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/executing-rake-tasks-with-cron/125969/12 "2008-06-08T04:57:59Z")
Stanislav, were you able to figure out why it was occuring in the first place?