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Reputation: 477

How do I get a PHP file to automatically run itself?

I have a PHP file, x.php, that outputs b.xml every time it is run. The way I do this is by using crontab to run the x.php file. The problem is that due to the server's settings, the new file has permissions of 400. So I also have another crontab line to change file b.xml permissions to 777 so that x.php can run over it next time.

I feel like I am making this too complicated. Is there any way to make this a bit simpler?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 2357

Answers (4)

Jason
Jason

Reputation: 15358

Quick Answer

You'll need to chmod the file to be 777 in the x.php script.

After b.xml has been created, run this line:

chmod('path/b.xml', 0777);

Note you should always specify octals when using chmod.

A better way?

When you run a cron job, you should take special note of the user that is running the cronjob.

Generally on a shared server you will have your own login and thus the cron job runs as that user. My question to you - is that user the same as your web server? often php runs as "apache" and cron might be running as "tanner". In that case, setting b.xml to be owned by tanner, and having a permissions 400 means that only tanner can change the file. To solve this, if you don't have access to umask, one way would be to change your cron job to run as the webserver:

su -c "php /home/jonathan/public_html/b.php" apache

This may or may not work depending if you are allowed to switch to apache as the user. do not forget to switch apache to the actual web servers username.

Now, if that doesn't work, then the alternative is to go for the 777 permissions. Keep in mind on a shared server this means anyone on that server could potentially get to that file if they knew the path.

Another way as suggested by OP:

0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * /usr/bin/wget http://example.com/user/x.php

This way will always run as the apache (or whatever) user that apache runs as, ensuring the next time it is accessed, the file will be useable.

Upvotes: 2

Tanner
Tanner

Reputation: 477

To solve this issue, I ended up just creating a cronjob such as this:

0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * /usr/bin/wget http://example.com/user/x.php

This executed the file which created b.xml and since the user who executed the script was public, the permissions remained public as well.

Upvotes: 0

maček
maček

Reputation: 77778

This should work:

// set permission
chmod('path/to/b.xml', 777);

// do other stuff

Upvotes: 0

Luis M. Valenzuela
Luis M. Valenzuela

Reputation: 149

Ask the server admin to create a new user who owns the folder where the script writes the xml file. Run your php script through your cron job as such user. If you run your script as the folder's owner you might change the permissions through your php script.

Upvotes: 0

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