The crontab executable gets installed such that normal users cannot run it. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. emerge vixie-cron 2. as a normal user, execute "crontab" 3. Actual Results: heliotrope:~ 501 ? crontab -bash: /usr/bin/crontab: Permission denied Expected Results: heliotrope:~ 502 ? crontab crontab: usage error: file name must be specified for replace usage: crontab [-u user] file crontab [-u user] { -e | -l | -r } (default operation is replace, per 1003.2) -e (edit user's crontab) -l (list user's crontab) -r (delete user's crontab) Just change this line of the ebuild: insopts -o root -g cron -m 4755 ; doins crontab
Hmmmmm, I'm pretty sure the intent is that only people in the "cron" group are allowed to have crontabs and thus are the only ones allowed to run crontab. Maybe I'm wrong and someone in base-system can correct me.
Mr_Bones_ is correct
Something I read earlier today said that vixie-cron was intended to be like the System V cron which does allow anyone to use it (i.e. not just cron group members). However, my recollection or the web page might be incorrect. To support my contention about the permission, I'd like to point you to the fact that vixie-cron's "/etc/cron.deny" and "/etc/cron.allow" feature. (From the man page.) It doesn't make sense to me that this feature would be there just to further restrict cron group members.
