Scheduling Tasks

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One very useful feature of Linux is the capability to schedule certain tasks to take place at some future date and time. If you will recall, earlier we discussed programs that run in the background and accomplish tasks. In Linux and Unix these are referred to as daemons, and in Windows they are called services. Most daemons in Linux end in a letter d. The daemon that is responsible for handling scheduled tasks is called crond, for chronological daemon. You can completely manage crond via shell commands, and we will visit that topic in Chapter 8, “Moving from Microsoft Word to Open Office,” but right now we will see how to do this through the KDE interface. Like most tasks, scheduling tasks via the KDE interface is a lot easier and more user friendly than doing it via shell commands. To get to the Task Scheduler, you can go to System Tools and select Task Scheduler. You should see something much like what is displayed in Figure 6.19.

Figure 6.19: The Task Scheduler.

To schedule a new task, you simply expand the category appropriate to your task and right-click on New Tasks, as shown in Figure 6.20.

Figure 6.20: New Tasks.

When you do this you will see a screen like the one shown in Figure 6.21. On this screen you can decide when you want this task to run. You can pick months, days, time of day, even down to the exact minute when you want the task to run. Then use the Browse button to select the program you want to run.

Figure 6.21: Scheduling a new task.

That is all that is required to schedule any task. You can have any program you want run automatically at a certain time and date. This is very useful for system administrators who want particular programs or scripts to run when they are away. This allows you to have certain cumbersome administrative tasks take place when you are away from the computer.

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