SunCron/PHP

Generate cron entries from rules based on sunset and/or sunrise

The idea is to execute programs depending on sunset or sunrise.

The project is supposed to execute at midnight and calculate todays sunrise and sunset times. It will use a configuration file with a set of rules and update a cron file with the new values.

Project is highly inspired by 6feet5/suncron and uses a similar rule definition scheme.

Installation

Repository

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/K-Ko/suncron-php.git

Download

cd ~
wget -qO suncron-php.zip https://github.com/K-Ko/suncron-php/archive/master.zip
unzip -qqd suncron-php suncron-php.zip
rm suncron-php.zip

Prepare dependencies

SunCron/PHP uses some other repositories via Composer.

cd suncron-php
composer -o --no-dev update

Global install

There is also a very simple Makefile to

• Link suncron.php to /usr/bin/suncron-php
• Copy the example configuration files to /etc/suncron-php

To install run

sudo make install

Remove with

sudo make uninstall

Usage

Configuration file templates are found in dist.

A configuration file has a Location section, an optional Environment section and a rule section.

Location

Latitude

Geographic coordinates for the north–south (-90° ... 90°) position of a point on the Earth's surface.

Longitude

Geographic coordinates for the east-west (-180° ... 180°) position of a point on the Earth's surface.

Timezone

Calculate the times for the given timezone., will use content of /etc/timezone if omitted.

Zenith

So sunrise and sunset actually occur when the Sun has altitude -0°50' (34' for refraction, and another 16' for the semi-diameter of the disc), aka 90+50/60.

Zenith: 90.83333333333333 (default)

You can also use other "sunrise" / "sunset" definitions...

Since the atmosphere scatters sunlight, the sky does not become dark instantly at sunset, there is a period of twilight.

During civil twilight, it is still light enough to carry on ordinary activities out-of-doors. This continues until the Sun's altitude is -6°.

Zenith: 96

During nautical twilight, it is dark enough to see the brighter stars, but still light enough to see the horizon, enabling sailors to measure stellar altitudes for navigation; this continues until the Sun's altitude is -12°.

Zenith: 102

During astronomical twilight, the sky is still too light for making reliable astronomical observations; this continues until the Sun's altitude is -18°.

Zenith: 108

Environement

If you need special environment setting, define them here.

VARIABLE: value

Rules

Each rule consists of up to eight parts:

if

Formula describing a logical condition

if: sunrise < 7:00 # test if sun rises before 7:00

Optional, defaults to true

then, else

Formulas or times to use if the condition is true/false

then: sunrise + 3:00 # three hours after sunrise

You can leave then empty to ignore them.

Optional, defaults to null; if omitted the rule will be skipped

day, month, dow

The 3rd to 5th field (day, month and day of week) of a crontab entry.

See man 5 crontab or eg. Wikipedia for syntax help.

Optional, defaults to *

user

The user which will run the command

Optional, defaults to root

cronic

If you have installed cronic, you can activate its usage with this flag.

Optional, defaults to false

nice

Run "cmd" with an adjusted niceness, which affects process scheduling. Niceness values range from -20 (most favorable to the process) to 19 (least favorable to the process).

Optional, defaults to false

cmd

The command to run via cron.

Required, missing command will raise an exception

Output

The resulting cron data will be written by default to a file named like this:

Configuration file: /path/to/default.yaml
Cron file: /etc/cron.d/suncron-php-default

Run

If you defined your configuration, test it with

$ suncron-php -t <your-config-file.yaml>

The configuration file can be given as absolute or relative path.

Example

$ suncron-php -t dist/daylight.yaml

SunCron/PHP v1.1.0 (2017-11-11)

TEST mode, don't write crontab
Config file : /home/user/suncron-php/dist/daylight.yaml
Sunrise - Sunset : 7:32 - 15:37
------------------------------------------------------------
1 | sunrise |  | * | * | *
32 7 * * * root echo '7:32-15:37' >/run/daylight
------------------------------------------------------------
1 | sunset |  | * | * | *
37 15 * * * root rm /run/daylight 2>/dev/null
------------------------------------------------------------
1 | sunrise - 1:00 |  | * | * | *
32 6 * * * root printf "1510385520\n1510414620\n" >/run/daylight-60
------------------------------------------------------------
1 | sunset + 1:00 |  | * | * | *
37 16 * * * root rm /run/daylight-60 2>/dev/null
------------------------------------------------------------
#
# WARNING - this file is automatic generated, changes will be lost!
#

# Run itself and recreate file each night
5 0 * * * root /usr/bin/suncron-php /home/user/suncron-php/dist/daylight.yaml

# Suncron entries
32 7 * * * root echo '7:32-15:37' >/run/daylight
37 15 * * * root rm /run/daylight 2>/dev/null
32 6 * * * root printf "1510385520\n1510414620\n" >/run/daylight-60
37 16 * * * root rm /run/daylight-60 2>/dev/null

If you are not fine with the outcome, e.g. if you find "invalid" times, run the verbose test which will show the calculations made.

Example

$ suncron-php -t -v dist/daylight.yaml

SunCron/PHP v1.1.0 (2017-11-11)

TEST mode, don't write crontab
Config file : /home/user/suncron-php/dist/daylight.yaml
Sunrise - Sunset : 7:32 - 15:37
------------------------------------------------------------
1 | sunrise |  | * | * | *
IF                  : 1
IF result           : true
THEN parsed         : 7:32
THEN parsed         : 27120 (in seconds)
THEN result         : 07:32
32 7 * * * root echo '7:32-15:37' >/run/daylight
------------------------------------------------------------
1 | sunset |  | * | * | *
IF                  : 1
IF result           : true
THEN parsed         : 15:37
THEN parsed         : 56220 (in seconds)
THEN result         : 15:37
37 15 * * * root rm /run/daylight 2>/dev/null
------------------------------------------------------------
1 | sunrise - 1:00 |  | * | * | *
IF                  : 1
IF result           : true
THEN parsed         : 7:32 - 1:00
THEN parsed         : 27120 - 3600 (in seconds)
THEN result         : 06:32
32 6 * * * root printf "1510385520\n1510414620\n" >/run/daylight-60
------------------------------------------------------------
1 | sunset + 1:00 |  | * | * | *
IF                  : 1
IF result           : true
THEN parsed         : 15:37 + 1:00
THEN parsed         : 56220 + 3600 (in seconds)
THEN result         : 16:37
37 16 * * * root rm /run/daylight-60 2>/dev/null
------------------------------------------------------------
#
# WARNING - this file is automatic generated, changes will be lost!
#

# Run itself and recreate file each night
5 0 * * * root /usr/bin/suncron-php /home/user/suncron-php/dist/daylight.yaml

# Suncron entries
32 7 * * * root echo '7:32-15:37' >/run/daylight
37 15 * * * root rm /run/daylight 2>/dev/null
32 6 * * * root printf "1510385520\n1510414620\n" >/run/daylight-60
37 16 * * * root rm /run/daylight-60 2>/dev/null

If you are then fine with the result, run your setup once to create the final cron file. Always run SunCron/PHP for this with root privileges, must write files in /etc/cron.d/!

$ sudo suncron-php dist/daylight.yaml

This will create the cron file. You don't need to run this again, the cron file contains a call to recreate the cron file automatic each night.

To remove the cron file, run also as root

$ sudo suncron-php -r dist/daylight.yaml