How to get an application to run every 30 minutes?

I have an application that fetches some feeds. Is there a way I can get it to be done every 30 minutes?

(I've not installed a graphical desktop, so a terminal fix would be loveable :D)

4 Answers

Use your crontab:

crontab -e

Then enter a line like the following

*/30 * * * * /path/to/your/command

Save it and it should run every 30 minutes of every hour, every day.

_{Updated the 30 minutes part, was being too quick. Thanks @nicolas, you got a +1.}

Cron sounds like what you're looking for.

Log in as the user you want the task to be ran by, then type "crontab -e"

Your favorite editor will open, and you will get a file with this format :

 # m h dom mon dow command

So to run '/home/foo/my_program' every 30min, you would add this line

 */30 * * * * /home/foo/my_program > /dev/null

/dev/null is there so you do not get the output sent by mail if your program writes something to stdout.

This sounds exactly like a job for cron. This is a good howto use it, yes it's for ubuntu and you're using fedora, but as far as I'm aware there are no differences between the two regarding cron.

Use cron to run it periodically.

From the account of the user you wish to run the script:

crontab -e

Then add a new line as follows:

*/30 * * * * <path/to/script>

Then save the crontab, which will automatically install it. The job will then run every 30 minutes and email you any output.