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up vote 2 down vote favorite

I have read most of the python/cron here in stackoverflow and yet couldn't make my script run.. I understood that I need to run my script through shell (using zsh & ipython by the way). but really I have no idea what to do :/ my simple code: in the crontab-

*/1 * * * * ipython /home/usr/Data/progs/cron_test.py

my python script-

import pickle
    from selenium import webdriver

driver = webdriver.Firefox()
driver.get('http://www.google.com')

t=driver.current_url
pickle.dump(t,open('noreal','wb'))

tried some things already but to no avail: 

    #!python ../python etc
    SHELL = /usr/bin/zsh
    PATH =/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

simply because i don't know what what is the problem, I assume something with running python script via interpreter, but, of I don't know what I am doing really :) a working solution would be great, and I would really appreciate an explanation to accompany any solution so i could understand the why and how and not just be like 'it work!thanks!bye!'. thanks for any help!

update So far i have narrowed down the problem, and now python runs with the next settings:

*/3 * * * * /usr/local/bin/ipython /home/user/Data/progs/RF/cron_test.py

and got a traceback:

[1;31m---------------------------------------------------------------------------[0m
[1;31mWebDriverException[0m                        Traceback (most recent call last)
[1;32m/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/IPython/utils/py3compat.pyc[0m in [0;36mexecfile[1;34m(fname, *where)[0m
[0;32m    176[0m             [1;32melse[0m[1;33m:[0m[1;33m[0m[0m
[0;32m    177[0m                 [0mfilename[0m [1;33m=[0m [0mfname[0m[1;33m[0m[0m
[1;32m--> 178[1;33m             [0m__builtin__[0m[1;33m.[0m[0mexecfile[0m[1;33m([0m[0mfilename[0m[1;33m,[0m [1;33m*[0m[0mwhere[0m[1;33m)[0m[1;33m[0m[0m
[0m
[1;32m/home/user/Data/progs/FB/cron_test.py[0m in [0;36m<module>[1;34m()[0m
[0;32m      9[0m [1;33m[0m[0m
[0;32m     10[0m [1;33m[0m[0m
[1;32m---> 11[1;33m [0mdriver[0m [1;33m=[0m [0mwebdriver[0m[1;33m.[0m[0mFirefox[0m[1;33m([0m[1;33m)[0m[1;33m[0m[0m
[0m[0;32m     12[0m [0mdriver[0m[1;33m.[0m[0mget[0m[1;33m([0m[1;34m'http://www.google.com'[0m[1;33m)[0m[1;33m[0m[0m
[0;32m     13[0m [1;33m[0m[0m

[1;32m/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/firefox/webdriver.pyc[0m in [0;36m__init__[1;34m(self, firefox_profile, firefox_binary, timeout, capabilities, proxy)[0m
[0;32m     58[0m         RemoteWebDriver.__init__(self,
[0;32m     59[0m             command_executor=ExtensionConnection("127.0.0.1", self.profile,
[1;32m---> 60[1;33m             self.binary, timeout),
[0m[0;32m     61[0m             desired_capabilities=capabilities)
[0;32m     62[0m         [0mself[0m[1;33m.[0m[0m_is_remote[0m [1;33m=[0m [0mFalse[0m[1;33m[0m[0m

[1;32m/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/firefox/extension_connection.pyc[0m in [0;36m__init__[1;34m(self, host, firefox_profile, firefox_binary, timeout)[0m
[0;32m     45[0m         [0mself[0m[1;33m.[0m[0mprofile[0m[1;33m.[0m[0madd_extension[0m[1;33m([0m[1;33m)[0m[1;33m[0m[0m
[0;32m     46[0m [1;33m[0m[0m
[1;32m---> 47[1;33m         [0mself[0m[1;33m.[0m[0mbinary[0m[1;33m.[0m[0mlaunch_browser[0m[1;33m([0m[0mself[0m[1;33m.[0m[0mprofile[0m[1;33m)[0m[1;33m[0m[0m
[0m[0;32m     48[0m         [0m_URL[0m [1;33m=[0m [1;34m"http://%s:%d/hub"[0m [1;33m%[0m [1;33m([0m[0mHOST[0m[1;33m,[0m [0mPORT[0m[1;33m)[0m[1;33m[0m[0m
[0;32m     49[0m         RemoteConnection.__init__(

[1;32m/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/firefox/firefox_binary.pyc[0m in [0;36mlaunch_browser[1;34m(self, profile)[0m
[0;32m     59[0m [1;33m[0m[0m
[0;32m     60[0m         [0mself[0m[1;33m.[0m[0m_start_from_profile_path[0m[1;33m([0m[0mself[0m[1;33m.[0m[0mprofile[0m[1;33m.[0m[0mpath[0m[1;33m)[0m[1;33m[0m[0m
[1;32m---> 61[1;33m         [0mself[0m[1;33m.[0m[0m_wait_until_connectable[0m[1;33m([0m[1;33m)[0m[1;33m[0m[0m
[0m[0;32m     62[0m [1;33m[0m[0m
[0;32m     63[0m     [1;32mdef[0m [0mkill[0m[1;33m([0m[0mself[0m[1;33m)[0m[1;33m:[0m[1;33m[0m[0m

[1;32m/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/selenium/webdriver/firefox/firefox_binary.pyc[0m in [0;36m_wait_until_connectable[1;34m(self)[0m
[0;32m     98[0m                 raise WebDriverException("The browser appears to have exited "
[0;32m     99[0m                       [1;34m"before we could connect. The output was: %s"[0m [1;33m%[0m[1;33m[0m[0m
[1;32m--> 100[1;33m                       self._get_firefox_output())
[0m[0;32m    101[0m             [1;32mif[0m [0mcount[0m [1;33m==[0m [1;36m30[0m[1;33m:[0m[1;33m[0m[0m
[0;32m    102[0m                 [0mself[0m[1;33m.[0m[0mkill[0m[1;33m([0m[1;33m)[0m[1;33m[0m[0m

[1;31mWebDriverException[0m: Message: 'The browser appears to have exited before we could connect. The output was: Error: no display specified\n'
share|improve this question
    
What's the benefit of ipython for this epitome of non-interactive use? –  tripleee Dec 13 '13 at 20:59
    
Non i guess, sould it matter for the issue? I don't mind using plain Python –  user2627775 Dec 13 '13 at 21:29
    
What's the significance of the "things you tried already"? None of them are syntactically correct. A correct shebang would be something like #!/usr/bin/env python and the assignments must not contain any whitespace. –  tripleee Dec 14 '13 at 9:23
    
Thanks triplee i've changed the things. Now python works, and i got a traceback. –  user2627775 Dec 14 '13 at 13:11
    
The color codes are really disruptive, could you run it through colcrt to clean it up? –  tripleee Dec 14 '13 at 13:58

2 Answers 2

up vote 2 down vote accepted

A quick guess, your job fails to run because it requires an X session. You should setup your test script to run in a headless mode. Check this link to run selenium in a headless mode.

update:
Your trace says exactly what I meant, firefox does not run without X, or a display if you want. 

 The output was: Error: no display specified\n'

Save yourself more trouble, read the link I posted.

share|improve this answer
    
I moved to something simpler just to check, did pickle.dump for a list into a file, doesn't create the file, so i take it as a proof that it's still not working. –  user2627775 Dec 13 '13 at 21:26
    
did you see an error? does your script break? do other cronjobs work? –  Oz123 Dec 13 '13 at 21:41
    
a simple cronjob work:echo 'hello word' >> /tmp/hello.txt, in the python case i see nothing so i can't traceback the problem.. –  user2627775 Dec 13 '13 at 21:52
    
open('cat_name_charlie_echo', 'wb')), you are opening a file, withou t a path. Try putting it with a full path where your cronuser can read and right and your user too. For example /tmp/cat_name.txt... –  Oz123 Dec 14 '13 at 9:02
    
Without any error message, there isn't much to go on. Does python -v run as you would expect from Cron? –  tripleee Dec 14 '13 at 9:16
up vote 0 down vote

As seen here, you need to give cron a display:

30 5 * * * export DISPLAY=:0; /home/me/good_morning.sh
share|improve this answer

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