1. Proposed title of this feature request

[RFE] Modify cron syntax to allow scheduling jobs on the nth weekday of each month

2. Who is the customer behind the request?

Account: red hat (acct #540155)

TAM customer: no

CSM customer: no

Strategic: no

3. What is the nature and description of the request?

Customers occasionally need to schedule jobs on the nth day of the month, but currently customers must use a comparatively complex workaround that looks like this:

0 3 * * mon [ $(date +%d) -le 07 ] && /path/to/script.sh

4. Why does the customer need this? (List the business requirements here)

The complexity and reduced legibility of the standard workaround makes such entries more difficult to write, read and support.

5. How would the customer like to achieve this? (List the functional requirements here)

I would like to slightly change the syntax so that this line:

0 3 * * mon/1 /path/to/script.sh

Would execute the command /path/to/script.sh on (for example) the first monday of each month.

This change is very small, but the syntax is simple and it resembles the slash syntax used for the other cron columns.

6. For each functional requirement listed, specify how Red Hat and the customer can test to confirm the requirement is successfully implemented.

• create a cron that would run on the nth weekday each month (choosing the current day), and also a time in the near future, and wait for it to fire
• create a cron that would run on the nth weekday each month (choosing the next day), but without choosing a specific time, and wait for it to fire

7. Is there already an existing RFE upstream or in Red Hat Bugzilla?

no

8. Does the customer have any specific time-line dependencies and which release would they like to target (i.e. RHEL5, RHEL6)?

no

9. Is the sales team involved in this request and do they have any additional input?

no

10. List any affected packages or components.

cronie
crontabs
tfm-rubygem-parse-cron

11. Would the customer be able to assist in testing this functionality if implemented?

yes