On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 11:49:48PM +0530, Nitesh Mistry wrote:
I am doing this little experiment in cron, but not able to make it work.
I want cron to play a certain mp3 file at a certain time. So I add the usual time parameters and add the following to the command field: /usr/bin/ffplay <path to my mp3 file>
But cron mails me an error which I have attached as text file.
I also tried "/bin/bash /usr/bin/ffplay <path to my mp3 file>" but it does not work.
Where am I going wrong?
you are trying executing (via cron) a Graphical program without a display.environment.
When I simply give the following command from terminal, it plays the file: ffplay <mp3 file>
Try a command line player like mplayer or cvlc
cvlc file:///<path to your mp3 file>
--> Initialization error! Could not initialize SDL - DirectFBCreate: Initialization error!
cron is not associated with any X session.
This seems to a problem with ffplay. It worked fine with cvlc. Sorry to bother all you people.
Not at all. Experimentation is a great way to learn how Linux works.
But there is one more thing. Cron executes the 'fetchmail' command listed in my crontab list irrespective of whether I am logged in or not. But it
fetchmail does not need access to any special devices like audio/video applications.
executes the vlc command only if I am logged in.
What is the error message from cron?
-- Arun Khan