Problems with the crontab

[cap at ifi.unizh.ch]

We observed the following problems with the cron on a SparcStation1
under SunOS4.0.3:

1) Several times processes are started too early than specified
   (error of several seconds)

2) One time out of approx. 10 times a process is even started TWICE.
   The crontab contains a line that should start a process at the full
   hour saying the time by copying a file to /dev/audio
   Every now and then two such processes are started and we hear an
   interleaving of two time-announcements.

3) Even worse, we have similar problems with our dumps that get started
   via crontab and crash from time to time when two dump processes
   are started.

If someone has made similar observations or has an explanation for this
please E-MAIL to cap at ifi.unizh.ch
(I do not read this group regularly)

THANX a LOT.

-- 
* Dr. Clemens H. CAP           cap at ifi.unizh.ch        Phone +01 257-4326
* Dept. of Computer Science    University of Zurich    Winterthurerstr. 190 
* CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland  #include<disclaimer.h>  #exclude <flames.h>