this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2025
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Keep a "latest" symlink for timestamped cron logs (programming.dev)
submitted 4 months ago by CoderSupreme@programming.dev to c/commandline@programming.dev
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Use ln -sf to update a symlink after each cron run:

0 */8 * * * TIMESTAMP=$(date +\%Y-\%m-\%dT\%H;\%M;\%S) && LOG="$HOME/logs/${TIMESTAMP}_job.log" && /path/to/script.sh >> "$LOG" 2>&1 && ln -sf "$LOG" "$HOME/logs/latest_job.log"

Any active communities where I can learn more cool things like this?

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[–] nous@programming.dev 2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Or use systems timers which keep track on this information for you. Can even tell you when the job will next run and automatically captures the logs and exit status from the runs.

[–] CoderSupreme@programming.dev 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Or use systems timers

systemd timers? Isn't that dependent on whether or not there is systemd? I thought there were Linux distros that don't use it.

[–] CoderSupreme@programming.dev 1 points 4 months ago

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