RSS feeds are not updating automatically

[TheGreatBeginner777]

Describe the bug

My feeds are not updating automatically.
Feeds are only updated by clicking on "Update feeds" from the main page in FressRSS (this means I have to login to YunoHost instance to update feeds for it to be propagated to the same user on desktop/mobiles etc.).
I searched for similar issue and found issue #77.

1. I'm unable to locate log file in /tmp/freshrss.log.
2. For cat /etc/cron.d/freshrss output is
   MAILTO="root"
   */10 * * * * freshrss /usr/bin/php7.3 /var/www/freshrss/app/actualize_script.php >/var/www/freshrss/freshrss.log 2>&1

freshrss cron job is pointing to php7.3. Based on #77 solution from some users should I edit cron and point to php7.0?

Context

• Hardware: Raspberry Pi at home
• YunoHost version: 11.0.9.15 (stable)
• I have access to my server: Through SSH | through the webadmin
• Are you in a special context or did you perform some particular tweaking on your YunoHost instance?: no
• Using package version: 1.19.2~ynh1

Steps to reproduce

Login to YunoHost instance.
Go into FreshRSS app and click on "Update feeds" icon.

Expected behavior

Feeds to be updated automatically.

Logs

n/a.

[lapineige]

Isn't FreshRSS using php7.4 now ? 🤔

[lapineige]

#77 (comment) : @yalh76 do you have any clue ?

[yalh76]

Isn't FreshRSS using php7.4 now ? 🤔

Nope, it's not using PHP7.4 since you have not merged #146

[lapor-kris]

I have the same problem since upgrading it to 1.20

Esit: any workaround for this issue? Thanks

[mprimi]

Sharing some info that may be useful to other stumbling upon this.

@TheGreatBeginner777 :

For cat /etc/cron.d/freshrss output is
MAILTO="root" */10 * * * * freshrss /usr/bin/php ...

A cron file exists, but it's not installed. This is why refresh is not working.

Here's how set it up:

Login as root using sudo su when logged in as admin.
The rest of the commands here are executed as root.

1. Check cron jobs for various users:

for u in <your username> admin freshrss root;  do sudo -u $u crontab -l; done
no crontab for USER1
no crontab for admin
no crontab for freshrss
no crontab for root

Confirms none of the users has a cron job installed.

2. Run refresh manually
   The script /var/www/freshrss/app/actualize_script.php belongs to user freshrss. And that's the user FreshRSS runs as.

sudo -u freshrss /usr/bin/php7.3 /var/www/freshrss/app/actualize_script.php
FreshRSS starting feeds actualization at 2022-11-06T20:26:12+00:00
FreshRSS actualize USER1…
FreshRSS actualization done for 2 users, using 6.00 MiB of memory, in 0 day(s), 0 hour(s), 0 minute(s) and 1 seconds.
Results:
USER1 OK
End.

This worked fine.

3. Install the cron job
   sudo -u freshrss crontab -e

This opens an editor, I add the line:

*/30 * * * * /usr/bin/php7.3 /var/www/freshrss/app/actualize_script.php >/var/log/freshrss/freshrss.log 2>&1

This refreshes every 30 minutes.
Save and quit.
It should say crontab: installing new crontab.

Double check: sudo -u freshrss crontab -l

*/30 * * * * /usr/bin/php7.3 /var/www/freshrss/app/actualize_script.php >/var/log/freshrss/freshrss.log 2>&1

After enough time has passed, I can see (as root) that the update ran:

cat /var/log/freshrss/freshrss.log
FreshRSS starting feeds actualization at 2022-11-06T20:51:40+00:00
FreshRSS actualize USER1…
FreshRSS actualization done for 1 users, using 4.00 MiB of memory, in 0 day(s), 0 hour(s), 0 minute(s) and 0 seconds.

Notice this is slightly brittle: the crontab is hardcoding /usr/bin/php7.3 which may not be the right executable after an update.

Anyway, this works.

Notice that this page has 2 different methods to do the same:

• Install in the global crontab
• Install as systemd timed service

[inrepublica]

Same problem for me with upgrade 1.20

[lapor-kris]

After the upgrade to 1.20 I also get cron mail every 10 minutes with this:
/bin/sh: 1: cannot create /var/log/freshrss/freshrss.log: Permission denied

Is there a way to add permission for this?

edit: if I try:
cat /var/log/freshrss/freshrss.log cat: /var/log/freshrss/freshrss.log: No such file or directory

[mprimi]

@lapor-kris
Either /var/log/freshrss/ doesn't exist, or it's not writeable by whichever user you installed the cronjob for.

Assuming is running under freshrss user:

Create the directory:
sudo mkdir -p /var/log/freshrss/
Change owner of directory:
sudo chown freshrss /var/log/freshrss/

[lapineige]

#150 should have fixed it.

Maybe not for the people who upgraded in the mid-time ?