Crontab not running python script on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

Question

I am trying to run a python script on Linux via WSL.

First of all I run service --status-all and both atd and cron are marked as [+] . Just to make sure that it works i typed in crontab -e the following:

*/2 * * * * /home/myname/Task_scripts/example.sh

This is what the script file example.sh looks like:

#!/bin/sh
echo "Hello World - Generated every 2 mins" >> ~/hello1.txt

The file indeed runs as set every 2mins so everything fine so far.

Let's move to the Python part now. I follow the exact same process ie crontab with a script and cannot get it run no matter what. In specific these are the two alternatives (among the many i tried) that i expected to work but apparently do not. FYI I am using an anaconda environment.

Alternative 1:

What i have in crontab: */2 * * * * /home/myname/Task_scripts/email_example.sh How the file looks like:

#!/bin/sh
/home/myname/anaconda3/envs/py36env/bin/python /home/myname/Production/example_email.py

Here are the rights in the .py file after running chmod +x email_example.sh :

-rwxrwxrwx 1 myname myname 99 Nov 7 21:26 email_example.sh

Alternative 2:

Set the crontab as follows:

*/2 * * * * /home/myname/anaconda3/envs/py36env/bin/python /home/myname/Production/example_email.py

The rights on the .py are same as above.

Executing manually the:

/home/myname/anaconda3/envs/py36env/bin/python /home/myname/Production/example_email.py

runs as it is supposed to do.

Answer 1

你有没有将 example_email.py 作为可执行文件？

chmod +x /home/myname/Production/example_email.py

Answer 2

Well, after a few tries I added an export to a log file in crontab command and was able to backtrack the issue. It was a python issue and in specific PYTHONPATH which I had to insert in the first line of my crontab.

For the story, WSL works fine just like a real linux OS.

Friendly tip: always make sure to include a log file. For the beginners (including me) this can be done by the following example in crontab:

* * * * * /home/myname/Task_scripts/example.sh >> /home/myname/Logs/example.txt 2>&1

For organizational purposes created a Logs directory to collect such files.