What is [ cron.php ]? *Not a support '?'*

sackbot14 · Post by **sackbot14** » Mon Dec 26, 2011 8:07 am

Hello.

This is not for any type of support, but I was just wondering what cron.php actually is? It is in the forum root directory.. I opened [ myforum/cron.php ] and just saw a blank page called cron.php (1x1).

What is it?

/a3 · Post by **/a3** » Mon Dec 26, 2011 8:09 am

cron.php does the "cron job". In other words, phpBB is only running when a page is requested, and so the best way for it to do certain tasks over time (eg. send mass emails) is through the cron.

It is included within an <img> tag on the board pages when required.

Lumpy Burgertushie · Post by **Lumpy Burgertushie** » Mon Dec 26, 2011 5:02 pm

cron is a script that runs a particluar task on the server.

one way to run the cron is by putting that file in the root of the phpbb .

whenever someone accesses the phpbb page that cron file will execute and thererfore it will run whatever task it has been set up to run.

you can also setup cron tasks to run at a certain time every day etc.

you can do all of this separate from phpbb.

check out your hosting control panel and you will most likely see a cron section there.

look it up in google and you will find a lot of info about what it is and how to use it.

luck,
robert

sackbot14 · Post by **sackbot14** » Tue Dec 27, 2011 1:42 am

Ah, so it is a very important file.

I was just wondering what a tiny transparent image (what I thought it was) would actually be used for.

callumacrae · Post by **callumacrae** » Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:31 pm

It implements what is known as "poor man's cron" - it effectively simulates cron jobs where the cron daemon cannot be accessed. In this context, it is used so that even if the board administrator does have access to cron, it makes installation easier.

I believe that there is a wiki article on how to use the cron daemon instead of cron.php, but I can't find it. It would probably just be a case of taking the cron.php link out of the footer of the board and adding a cron to run cron.php every half hour or so.

Dog Cow · Post by **Dog Cow** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 11:44 pm

sackbot14 wrote:Ah, so it is a very important file. I was just wondering what a tiny transparent image (what I thought it was) would actually be used for.

It could also be used for visitor tracking. Count how many people load the cron.php file.

igorw · Post by **igorw** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:17 pm

Dog Cow wrote:It could also be used for visitor tracking. Count how many people load the cron.php file.

It is not included on every page load, only when there is work to be done.

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