Fcron - Set up, run jobs and troubleshoot

• Install Fcron
• Ensure that an Fcron group is created

cat /etc/group | grep fcron
# Should output something like this: fcron:x:23

• Add current user to Fcron group (Need Root)

sudo usermod -a -G fcron $USER

You might have to re-login after the last command.

• Open the fcrontab

fcrontab -e

• An empty text file should open. This is where we define what tasks to run and when to run them. However, first we add the necessary environment variables

SHELL=/usr/bin/zsh
DISPLAY=:0

• Now we can tasks one per line. For eg, below given task will change wallpaper to a random picture in wallpapers folder every 5 mins (Need feh installed)

@ 5 /usr/bin/feh --no-fehbg --bg-fill --randomize ~/Collection/Pictures/wallpapers

What to do in case of permission errors

Remember that the folder /var/spool/fcron should be owned by the user fcron while the fcrontab files inside that folder should be owned by respective users. So if you have permission issues, the following commands may resolve the issues

sudo chown fcron /var/spool/fcron
sudo chown $USER /var/spool/fcron/${USER}.orig