Cron Jobs

A cron job is a Linux command for scheduling a command or script on your server to complete repetitive tasks automatically. Scripts executed as a cron job are typically used to modify files or databases; however, they can perform other tasks that do not modify data on the server, like sending out email notifications. Koha has many cron jobs in place that you can enable (search engine indexing, overdue notice generation, data cleanup and more), this chapter will explain those for you.

Crontab example

An example of a Koha crontab can be found in misc/cronjobs/crontab.example

The example includes sample boilerplate cronjob entries for the most commonly-used cronjobs.

Cron Jobs

The locations below assume a dev install which puts the crons in misc/, if you have a standard install you may want to look in bin/ for these files if you cannot find them in misc/

Backup

Daily Backup

Script path: misc/cronjobs/backup.sh

Does: Creates a daily backup of the Koha database.

Frequency suggestion: daily

Circulation

Holds Queue

Script path: misc/cronjobs/holds/build_holds_queue.pl

Does: Updates holds queue report

Required by: Holds Queue Report

Frequency suggestion: every 1-4 hours

Description:

  • A script that should be run periodically if your library system allows borrowers to place on-shelf holds. This script decides which library should be responsible for fulfilling a given hold request.

    It’s behavior is controlled by the system preferences StaticHoldsQueueWeight and RandomizeHoldsQueueWeight.

    If you do not want all of your libraries to participate in the on-shelf holds fulfillment process, you should list the the libraries that *do* participate in the process here by inputting all the participating library’s branchcodes, separated by commas ( e.g. “MPL,CPL,SPL,BML” etc. ).

    By default, the holds queue will be generated such that the system will first attempt to hold fulfillment using items already at the pickup library if possible. If there are no items available at the pickup library to fill a hold, build_holds_queue.pl will then use the list of libraries defined in StaticHoldsQueueWeight. If RandomizeHoldsQueueWeight is disabled ( which it is by default ), the script will assign fulfillment requests in the order the branches are placed in the StaticHoldsQueueWeight system preference.

    For example, if your system has three libraries, of varying sizes ( small, medium and large ) and you want the burden of holds fulfillment to be on larger libraries before smaller libraries, you would want StaticHoldsQueueWeight to look something like “LRG,MED,SML”.

    If you want the burden of holds fulfillment to be spread out equally throughout your library system, simply enable RandomizeHoldsQueueWeight. When this system preference is enabled, the order in which libraries will be requested to fulfill an on-shelf hold will be randomized each time the list is regenerated.

    Leaving StaticHoldsQueueWeight empty is contraindicated at this time. Doing so will cause the build_holds_queue script to ignore RandomizeHoldsQueueWeight, causing the script to request hold fulfillment not randomly, but by alphabetical order.

Expired Holds

Script path: misc/cronjobs/holds/cancel_expired_holds.pl

Does: By default, this cron job will only automatically cancel holds where the user has set an expiration date. If the library is using the ExpireReservesMaxPickUpDelay and ExpireReservesMaxPickUpDelayCharge preferences then this script will also cancel holds that have been sitting on the hold shelf for too long and will (if the library does) charge the patron for not picking up the hold.

Frequency suggestion: daily

Unsuspend Holds

Script path: misc/cronjobs/holds/auto_unsuspend_holds.pl

Does: This script checks to find holds that should no longer be suspended and removes the suspension if the AutoResumeSuspendedHolds preference is set to ‘allow’. This puts the patron back in to the queue where they were when the hold was suspended.

Frequency suggestion: daily

Fines

Script path: misc/cronjobs/fines.pl

Does: Calculates and posts fines to patron accounts.

Required by: finesMode system preference

Frequency suggestion: nightly

Static Fines

Script path: misc/cronjobs/staticfines.pl

Does: this script calculates and charges overdue fines to patron accounts

Note If the Koha System Preference ‘finesMode’ is set to ‘production’, the fines are charged to the patron accounts. If set to ‘test’, the fines are calculated but not applied.

Note Fines won’t be applied on a holiday.

Long Overdues

Script path: misc/cronjobs/longoverdue.pl

Does: allows one to specify delays for changing items to different lost statuses, and optionally charge for them using the replacement price listed on the item record.

Frequency suggestion: nightly

Note

Staff can control some of the parameters for the longoverdue cron job with the DefaultLongOverdueLostValue and DefaultLongOverdueChargeValue preferences.

Track Total Checkouts

Script path: misc/cronjobs/update_totalissues.pl

Does: updates the biblioitems.totalissues field in the database with the latest tally of checkouts based on historical issue statistics.

Frequency suggestion: nightly

Warning

If the time on your database server does not match the time on your Koha server you will need to take that into account, and probably use the –since argument instead of the –interval argument for incremental updating.

Note

This cronjob can be used if there is a performance concern. Otherwise, use the UpdateTotalIssuesOnCirc System Preference.

Generate Patron File for Offline Circulation

Script path: misc/cronjobs/create_koc_db.pl

Does: Generates the borrowers.db file for use with the Koha Offline Circulation tool

Frequency suggestion: weekly

Automatic renewal

Script path: misc/cronjobs/automatic_renewals.pl

Does: Will automatically renew items if you’re allowing automatic renewal with your circulation and fine rules.

Frequency suggestion: nightly

Patrons

Batch Delete Patrons

Script path: misc/cronjobs/delete_patrons.pl

Does: Deletes patron records in batch based on date not borrowed since, expired before, last seen, category code, or library branch.

Unverified Registrations

Script path: misc/cronjobs/delete_expired_opac_registrations.pl

Does: Deletes patron registrations that were submitted via the OPAC but not reviewed by the library within the number of days entered in the PatronSelfRegistrationExpireTemporaryAccountsDelay preference.

Frequency suggestion: nightly

Unconfirmed Registrations

Script path: misc/cronjobs/delete_unverified_opac_registrations.pl

Does: Deletes patron self registrations that were submitted via the OPAC but not confirmed via email within 24 hours. This is only necessary if you are requiring patrons to confirm their registrations via email with the PatronSelfRegistrationVerifyByEmail preference.

Frequency suggestion: hourly

Anonymize Patron Data

Script path: misc/cronjobs/batch_anonymise.pl

Does: Used to anonymize patron data. This will remove borrowernumbers from circulation history so that the stats are kept, but the patron information is removed for privacy reasons.

Update Child to Adult Patron Type

Script path: misc/cronjobs/j2a.pl

Does: Convert juvenile/child patrons from juvenile patron category and category code to corresponding adult patron category and category code when they reach the upper age limit defined in the Patron Categories.

Frequency suggestion: nightly

DESCRIPTION

This script is designed to update patrons from juvenile to adult patron types, remove the guarantor, and update their category codes appropriately when they reach the upper age limit defined in the Patron Categories.

USAGE EXAMPLES

“juv2adult.pl”

“juv2adult.pl” -b=<branchcode> -f=<categorycode> -t=<categorycode> (Processes a single branch, and updates the patron categories from category to category)

“juv2adult.pl” -f=<categorycode> -t=<categorycode> -v -n (Processes all branches, shows all messages, and reports the patrons who would be affected. Takes no action on the database)

Notices

Message Queue

Script path: misc/cronjobs/process_message_queue.pl

Does: processes the message queue to send the check out, check in and hold filled emails and SMS message to users and sends outgoing emails to patrons. requires EnhancedMessagingPreferences to be on

Frequency suggestion: 1-4 hours

Important

Item due and Advanced due notices are controlled by the advance_notices cron.

Advanced Notice

Script path: misc/cronjobs/advance_notices.pl

Does: prepares “pre-due” notices and “item due” notices for patrons who request them prepares notices for patrons for items just due or coming due soon. requires EnhancedMessagingPreferences to be on

Frequency suggestion: nightly

Note

This script does not actually send the notices. It queues them in the message queue for later

Overdue Notice

Script path: misc/cronjobs/overdue_notices.pl

Does: prepares messages to alert patrons of overdue messages (both via email and print)

Frequency suggestion: nightly

Note

This script does not actually send the notices. It queues them in the message queue for later or generates the HTML for later printing

See also

The misc/cronjobs/advance_notices.pl program allows you to send messages to patrons in advance of their items becoming due, or to alert them of items that have just become due.

Talking Tech

To learn more about setting up this third party product view the Talking Tech Appendix.

Sending Notices File

Script path: misc/cronjobs/thirdparty/TalkingTech_itiva_outbound.pl

Does: Script to generate Spec C outbound notifications file for Talking Tech i-tiva phone notification system.

Required by: TalkingTechItivaPhoneNotification

Frequency suggestion: nightly

Receiving Notices File

Script path: misc/cronjobs/thirdparty/TalkingTech_itiva_inbound.pl

Does: Script to process received Results files for Talking Tech i-tiva phone notification system.

Required by: TalkingTechItivaPhoneNotification

Frequency suggestion: nightly

Notify Patrons of Expiration

Script path: misc/cronjobs/membership_expiry.pl

Does: Sends messages to warn patrons of their card expiration to the messaage queue cron.

Requires: MembershipExpiryDaysNotice

Frequency: nightly

In Processing/Book Cart

Script path: misc/cronjobs/cart_to_shelf.pl

Does: Updates all items with a location of CART to the item’s permanent location.

Required by: NewItemsDefaultLocation, InProcessingToShelvingCart, & ReturnToShelvingCart system preferences

Frequency suggestion: hourly

Catalog

Import Webservice Batch

Script path: misc/cronjobs/import_webservice_batch.pl

Does: A cron job for processing import bach queues of type ‘webservice’. Batches can also be processed through the UI.

Note

This script is used for OCLC Connexion

Connexion Import Daemon

Script path: misc/bin/connexion_import_daemon.pl

Does: A daemon that listens for OCLC Connexion requests and is compliant with OCLC Gateway specification. It takes requests with MARC XML and import batch parameters from a configuration file and forwards it to svc/import_bib

Note

This script is used for OCLC Connexion

Batch Item Deletion

Script path: misc/cronjobs/delete_items.pl

Does: A batch item deletion tool, which generates a query against the items database and deletes the items matching the criteria specified in the command line arguments.

Check URL Quick

Script path: misc/cronjobs/check-url-quick.pl

Does: Check URLs from biblio records.

Note

This script replaces the check-url.pl script

Check URLs

Script path: misc/cronjobs/check-url.pl

Does: checks URLs in 856$u field. Script output can now be formatted in CSV or HTML. The HTML version links directly to MARC biblio record editor.

Frequency suggestion: monthly

Learn more: http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Check-url_enhancements

Delete Records via Leader

Script path: misc/cronjobs/delete_records_via_leader.pl

Does: Attempt to delete any MARC records where the leader character 5 equals ‘d’

Update Authorities

Script path: misc/cronjobs/merge_authorities.pl

Does: Updates biblio data with changes to authorities records

Note

The name of this script is misleading. This script does not merge authorities together it instead merges authority data with linked bib records. Edits to authority records will be applied to bibliographic records that use that authority when this script is run.

Required by: dontmerge system preference

Frequency suggestion: nightly

Serials Update

Script path: misc/cronjobs/serialsUpdate.pl

Does: checks if there is a “late” issue on active subscriptions, and if there is, the script will set it as late, and add the next one as expected.

Frequency suggestion: nightly

Automatic item update

Script path: misc/cronjobs/automatic_item_modification_by_age.pl

Does: updates items based on the list of rules set forth in the Automatic item modifications by age tool

Required by: Automatic item modifications by age

Frequency suggestions: nightly

OPAC

RSS Feeds

Script path: misc/cronjobs/rss/rss.pl

Does: Produces an RSS XML document for any SQL query (not used for search results RSS feed). Learn more.

Frequency suggestion: hourly

Authorities Browser

Script path: misc/cronjobs/build_browser_and_cloud.pl

Does: Generate content for authorities browse in OPAC

Required by: OpacBrowser system preference

Important

This preference and cron job should only be used on French systems.

Subject/Author Clouds

Script path: misc/cronjobs/cloud-kw.pl

Does: Generates HTML keywords clouds from Koha Zebra indexes. misc/cronjobs/cloud-sample.conf has a sample of how this script operates.

Frequency: This is the type of script you can run once a month or so, the content generated isn’t going to change very much over time.

System Administration

Services Throttle

Script path: misc/cronjobs/services_throttle.pl

Does: resets the xISBN services throttle

Frequency suggestion: nightly

Clean up Database

Script path: misc/cronjobs/cleanup_database.pl

Does: Truncates the sessions table, cleans out old zebraqueue entries, action logs and staged MARC files.

Share Usage Stats

Script path: misc/cronjobs/share_usage_with_koha_community.pl

Does: If you’re sharing information via the UsageStats feature this will send your info to the Hea website.

Frequency: monthly

Acquisitions

Clean up old suggestions

Script path: misc/cronjobs/purge_suggestions.pl

Does: Removes old (defined by you) suggestions from the suggestion management area.

Email suggestions to process

Script path: misc/cronjobs/notice_unprocessed_suggestions.pl

Does: Generates a notice to the fund owner that there are suggestions in need of processing

EDI Message Processing

Script path: misc/cronjobs/edi_cron.pl

Does: Sends and received EDI messages

Frequency: Every 15 minutes

Remove Temporary EDI Files

Script path: misc/cronjobs/remove_temporary_edifiles.pl

Does: removes temporary EDI files that are older than 5 days

Reports

Run Report

Script path: misc/cronjobs/runreport.pl

Does: run pre-existing saved reports

Norwegian patron database

NL sync to Koha

Script path: misc/cronjobs/nl-sync-to-koha.pl

Does: sync patrons from the Norwegian national patron database (NL) to Koha

Note Relies on NorwegianPatronDBUsername and NorwegianPatronDBPassword system preferences

NL sync from Koha

Script path: misc/cronjobs/nl-sync-from-koha.pl

Does: sync patrons from Koha to the Norwegian national patron database (NL)

Note Relies on NorwegianPatronDBUsername and NorwegianPatronDBPassword system preferences

Social data

Get report social data

Script path: misc/cronjobs/social_data/get_report_social_data.pl

Does: downloads data from Babelthèque to add to OPAC records

Frequency suggestion: nightly

Update social data

Script path: misc/cronjobs/social_data/update_social_data.pl

Does: updates OPAC records with Babelthèque social data

Deprecated scripts

These should not be run without modification:

Script path: misc/cronjobs/update_items.pl

Script path:misc/cronjobs/smsoverdues.pl

Script path:misc/cronjobs/notifyMailsOp.pl

Script path:misc/cronjobs/reservefix.pl

Script path:misc/cronjobs/zebraqueue_start.pl