Question

OS: Amazon Linux

I have a Ruby script that connects to a site, then it searches with an XPath request for a div block where is the stats counter I want to parse.

Then it compares the number from the site with the current value in the database, if the number has increased it sends me an email.

The problem is that, then I run the script from the current directory it works.

1. The script parses the block of text which contains a value.
2. I extract the value with Regex like this (/\d/)
   …

But when it the script executes by crontab it gets some strange value like
…041704300440043504330438044104420440043804400430432043004304304304304304404370430432043004420435043043504390447043504400435043704320430044804430430…

I don’t know how to debug it because, when I run the script manually it works, but fails with strange value when executed by crontab.

The text in the site is russian, encoded with Windows-1251.
Maybe there is something wrong with that.
I have set # encoding: utf-8, in the .rb file.

Answer 1

That could be an environment problem, which could include bad paths, etc. You can compare your ENV from the command-line to the environment when launched by crontab.

Try:

ruby -rpp -e 'pp ENV' > /tmp/crontab_env.out

from crontab, then:

ruby -rpp -e 'pp ENV' > /tmp/cmd_env.out

from the command-line, then:

vimdiff /tmp/*env.out

or use a regular editor.