Deployed a backup script on a new server, tested it manually — worked fine. Set up crontab, came back next morning, no backup. Turns out /usr/local/bin wasn’t in cron’s PATH so pg_dump just silently didn’t exist.
Switched to absolute path and it worked immediately. Fifteen minutes of debugging for a one-character fix. I keep making this mistake every time I set up a new box. At this point I should just have a checklist taped to my monitor.
This bit me so many times I have
# USE ABSOLUTE PATHS, ASSUME ALL COMMANDS ARE UNDEFINED, SPECIFY ALL VERSIONS, REDIRECT OUTPUTat the top of my local crontab so I remember from when I take something from it to prod, lol.
Edit: formatting whoopsie
When will this be part of the packaged default? :)