about

dead simple crontab powered job scheduling for django.

setup

install via easy_install or pip:

easy_install django-crontab

add it to installed apps in django settings.py:

INSTALLED_APPS = (
    'django_crontab',
    ...
)

now create a new method that should be executed by cron every 5 minutes, f.e. in myproject/myapp/cron.py:

def my_scheduled_job():
  pass

now add this to your settings.py:

CRONJOBS = [
    ('*/5 * * * *', 'myproject.myapp.cron.my_scheduled_job')
]

the least to do is to run this command to add all defined jobs from CRONJOBS to crontab (of the user which you are running this command with):

python manage.py crontab add

removing all defined jobs is straight forward:

python manage.py crontab remove

config

there are a bunch of setting vars to customize behavior. each of this comes with default values that should properly fit. if not, feel free to overwrite.

CRONJOBS

• list of tuples with cron timing, the python module path to the method and optional a job specific suffix (f.e. to redirect out/err to a file)

• default: []

• example:

  CRONJOBS = [
      ('*/5 * * * *', 'myproject.myapp.cron.my_scheduled_job'),
      ('0   0 1 * *', 'myproject.myapp.cron.other_scheduled_job'),
      ('@reboot',     'myproject.anotherapp.cron.system_reboot_job', '>> /home/john/web/logs/system_reboot_job.log'),
  ]
  

CRONTAB_EXECUTABLE

• path to the crontab executable of your os
• default: '/usr/bin/crontab'

CRONTAB_DJANGO_PROJECT_NAME

• the name of your django project, used to build path path to manage.py and to mark the jobs in contrab via comment for later removing
• default is read from DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE environment variable

CRONTAB_DJANGO_MANAGE_PATH

• path to manage.py file (including the manage.py itself, i.e. '/home/john/web/manage.py')
• default is build using DJANGO_PROJECT_NAME

CRONTAB_PYTHON_EXECUTABLE

• path to the python interpreter executable used to run the scheduled job
• default uses the interpreter executable used to add the jobs (via 'python manage.py crontab add')

CRONTAB_COMMAND_PREFIX

• something you wanne do before job gets executed.
• default: '' (empty string)
• example: '`echo "executing my scheduled job now" && `'

CRONTAB_COMMAND_SUFFIX

• something you wanne do after job was executed.
• default: '' (empty string)
• example: '` && echo "execution of my scheduled job finished"`'

CRONTAB_COMMENT

• used for marking the added contab-lines for removing, default value includes project name to distinguish multiple projects on the same host and user
• default: 'django-crontabs for ' + CRONTAB_DJANGO_PROJECT_NAME

license

MIT-License, see LICENSE file.