How to run a bash script from crontab and send the output to desktop notifications

Question

I'm trying to get the RAID status every time i boot into my system (Debian) and send the output as notification in the desktop. This works as expected from terminal: sudo mdadm --detail /dev/md0 | grep 'Working Devices :' | while read OUTPUT; do notify-send "$OUTPUT"; done

but it won't work if I run a crontab job pointing at the script :

mdadm --detail /dev/md0 | grep 'Working Devices :' | while read OUTPUT; do notify-send "$OUTPUT"; done

The script is set to be executable and is ran from crontab root as:

@reboot /PATH/scripth.sh

this also won't work:

* * * * * /PATH/scripth.sh

and logs are not produced when:

* * * * * /PATH/scripth.sh > /PATH/crontab.log

Try add to your script at first string: export DISPLAY=':0.0' — Šerg, Oct 09 '19 at 12:09
Add errors out to log: "* * * * * /PATH/scripth.sh > /PATH/crontab.log 2>&1" and check crontab.log — Šerg, Oct 09 '19 at 12:09

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 09 '19 at 12:21

2

This work in my PC (change username):

sudo mdadm --detail /dev/md0 | grep 'Working Devices :' | while read OUTPUT; do su - RealUserName -c "DISPLAY=':0.0' notify-send \"$OUTPUT\""; done

answered Oct 09 '19 at 12:21

Šerg

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You might consider accepting the answer if it worked for you. – tekknolagi Oct 30 '19 at 06:08

How to run a bash script from crontab and send the output to desktop notifications

1 Answers1