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Bug 663748

Summary: sys-fs/btrfsmaintenance remove hard dependency on cron for systems using systemd
Product: Gentoo Linux Reporter: Nathan Dehnel <ncdehnel>
Component: Current packagesAssignee: Martin Dummer <martin.dummer>
Status: RESOLVED INVALID    
Severity: normal CC: proxy-maint
Priority: Normal    
Version: unspecified   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Package list:
Runtime testing required: ---

Description Nathan Dehnel 2018-08-16 03:14:49 UTC
Is there an (upstream) reason why cron is required by this package, and I can't just use systemd timers?
Comment 1 Nathan Dehnel 2018-08-29 00:21:56 UTC
Update: https://github.com/kdave/btrfsmaintenance/issues/57
Comment 2 Martin Dummer 2018-08-29 06:20:15 UTC
(In reply to Nathan Dehnel from comment #0)
> Is there an (upstream) reason why cron is required by this package, and I
> can't just use systemd timers?

the btrfsmaintenance scripts itself need no cron to work at all, that's correct.

Please do not confuse an upstream software repository with a specific implementation of this software - as we have here with the gentoo package of btrfsmaintenance.

In this gentoo package, the btrfsmaintenance package depends on "virtual/cron" which is not the same as a dependency on "cron". This virtual package makes it possible to use sys-fs/btrfsmaintenance on a systemd-based system WITHOUT having a traditional cron installation, because systemd together with some support files fulfils this dependency.

So the plain answers for your questions: 
> Is there an (upstream) reason why cron is required by this package,
Yes, usability and convenience, and it's a dependency on a virtual package.

> can't just use systemd timers?
Yes you can. I have a server at home that does exactly this.


Please look here for more information: 

https://devmanual.gentoo.org/general-concepts/virtuals/