Re: Something Odd - "top" Delivers Nada When Run By Crontab

On 7/12/26 02:46, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
> On Sat, 11 Jul 2026 05:57:16 -0000 (UTC), I wrote:
> 
>> It needs the TERM environment variable to be defined:
>>
>>      env -i TERM=xterm top
>>
>> produces a top display.
> 
> Of course, what value such a display might have in a batch job,
> remains a questionable issue ...

   It was reliably explained that 'top', as
   normally used, expects a terminal. The
   "-b" is by the docs the "non-interactive"
   mode and does not expect a terminal.

   Fixed MY little weirdness.

   Some/many CL utils work fine from a terminal
   or from crontab. 'Top' is not one of those.

   In any case, I thank those who provided the
   easy fix. Now my stuff works fine. Still need
   to clean-up the output a bit more, it's large
   and kinda confusing. Still better than NO
   output though !

   Some wondered why I was using os.system() with
   output redirected to a file rather than
   'subprocess' with it's weird lists for both
   input and output, sometimes 'b'inary that
   require translation. It's the KISS principle.
   Fewer, simpler, lines to save to a temp file,
   then open/clean that data.

   Sometimes "better" just ain't.

   Heh ... have a pgm that calls 'ffmpeg', with
   about 15 params. The 'subprocess' shit mostly
   requires composing a huge nasty list of all
   the params just to CALL the damned util. UGLY !
   Never sure when the param and follow-on value
   need to be ONE item in the list or not - takes
   like 99 experiments. Os.system() - you simply provide
   a pretty standard ascii line, like you were typing
   from terminal, and it JUST WORKS.