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I'm maintaining a server which runs mailman. In it I find a crontab which looks like the following:

0 8 * * * list [ -x /usr/lib/mailman/cron/checkdbs ] && /usr/lib/mailman/cron/checkdbs
0 9 * * * list [ -x /usr/lib/mailman/cron/disabled ] && /usr/lib/mailman/cron/disabled
...

When I type list I get

No command 'list' found ..

My searches for "crontab list", "linux list command", "mailman cron list" bring up results for listing things.

What does list in crontab do ?

What command is list refering to ?

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  • What version of mailman is this ? 2.1.15-21 here and no use of 'list' on the mailman crontab. Commented Dec 30, 2016 at 13:10
  • 3
    is it an /etc crontab where 'list' is supposed to be a user that it runs as? Commented Dec 30, 2016 at 13:17
  • using mailman version 2.1.14 Commented Dec 30, 2016 at 14:44
  • can't edit my last post.. cronjobs came as result from: crontab -ulist -l I did not know that you * * * * * [user] command syntax Commented Dec 30, 2016 at 14:48

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Lines in the system crontab (which is what I think you're looking at) have six fixed fields plus a command, in the form:

minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week user command

This is different from the per-user crontab which lacks the user field.

My guess is that list is the mailman user on that system. This user is usually called mailman, but for whatever reason someone thought list was better (more generic?).

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  • Thanks. I did not know user could be put in front of command. It's generic and confusing. Commented Dec 30, 2016 at 14:49

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