[cron.d] What does `0 0 * * * root invoke-rc.d atop _cron` do?

[thomasb]

The invoke-rc.d call is for SystemV, atop is to monitor the load, but what is _cron in this command?

[icecream-guy]

Cron is a unix scheduler, it makes running items at a specific time more manageable

according to the syntax, this should run 'invoke-rc.d' with root privileges every hour, everyday

[thomasb]

So everything after invoke-rc.d is launched, that is both atop and _cron?
It's mainly the _cron part that I can't figure out what it is. Actually, this is in a file under /etc/cron.d (the admin left and we try to understand what he did...)

[icecream-guy]

well rc.d is a run command

atop = AT Computing's System & Process Monitor

reference
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=789690

Sam Morris seems to refer that it might be log rotation: in above reference, he states:

"I guess this (referring to bug) is due to logrotate running 'invoke-rc.d atop _cron'."
and runs:

Code Select Expand


$ systemctl status atop cron


that might be a place to investigate.

[thomasb]

The server is under Debian 14.04 so there is no systemctl command... We really need to get it straight asap
Thank you very much for the link, I dig this way

[icecream-guy]

The server is under Debian 14.04 so there is no systemctl command... We really need to get it straight asap
Thank you very much for the link, I dig this way

yes the thread I quotes was a wee bit old, but googling that command yields lots of results to sift through.

mind you that I am no expert in Linux distros,  I know enough what to touch and what not to touch,  I can break things, but takes alot of research to fix.