pushed the repeated bits out to a single file, removed old cron files, cleaned up existing.
--- /dev/null
+
+#[aa cron defaults]
+# cron default bits to add at top of crontab...
+
+# these stanzas are assumed to be present in every one of the other cron examples.
+# unfortunately there is no way to include cron files in other cron files, so the functional parts here just need
+# to be plopped into the user's actual crontab.
+
+# set the shell to bash. this is not set by default for many crons.
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# a key to the crontab positional entries for times.
+#
+# m h dom mon dow command
+#
+# longer form spelling out the positions. these are optionally plural because cron allows for multiple entries in different forms.
+# minute(s) hour(s) dayOfMonth(s) month(s) dayOfWeek(s) command
+
+# set a user name for writing unique log files. this is important because crontab doesn't have USER defined,
+# although we can count on HOME being defined, luckily.
+# you may want to use a more appropriate user name than mine, which is "fred".
+USER=fred
+
+# the guts of the crontab would go here. it would spell out some time or times for the command to be executed.
+# it's actually okay to have a really long command with multiple sub-commands; just put it inside parentheses to group
+# a bunch of commands together. there are many examples of doing this in the other files.
+# also, it's often important to send the output someplace. /dev/null works if you don't ever want to see it, but i
+# prefer to write log files in the /tmp directory which include the user name defined above.
+
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-#[acroread cleaner]
-* * * * * /bin/rm -f $HOME'/C:\nppdf32Log\debuglog.txt'
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-#[backup all mysql databases]
-# backs up our databases on a weekly basis.
-28 4 * * 2 (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; mysqldump -u root '-pPASSWORD' --all-databases | gzip > /z/stuffing/archives/database_backup_$(hostname)_$(date_stringer).sql.gz) &>/tmp/database_backup_${USER}.log
-
-
--- /dev/null
+
+#[backup git account]
+# archives the whole ~git folder with all account databases into a compressed tar file.
+34 20 * * 5 tar -czf /z/stuffing/archives/git_archive_$(date +"\%Y_\%m_\%d_\%H\%M_\%S" | tr -d '/\n/').tar.gz /home/git >/home/git/archiving_log.txt
+
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
#[backup maildir]
# backs up the maildir folder for fred monthly
* * 1 * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; tar -czf /z/stuffing/archives/maildir_backup_$(date_stringer).tar.gz $HOME/Maildir) &>/tmp/maildir_backup_${USER}.log
-
--- /dev/null
+
+#[backup mysql databases]
+# backs up all of our mysql databases on a weekly basis.
+28 4 * * 2 (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; mysqldump -u root '-pPASSWORD' --all-databases | gzip > /z/stuffing/archives/database_backup_$(hostname)_$(date_stringer).sql.gz) &>/tmp/database_backup_${USER}.log
+
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
#[backup photo albums]
# back up the pictures in coppermine gallery every month.
34 6 4 * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; tar -czf /z/stuffing/archives/photo_albums_backup_$(date_stringer).tar.gz /home/albums ; refred) &>/tmp/albums_backup_${USER}.log
-
--- /dev/null
+
+#[backup serene system]
+# backs up config files and important parts of home directories to off-machine storage.
+14 2 * * */7 (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/serene_backer_upper.sh) &>/tmp/offmachine_backup.log
+
-
#[backup trac]
# backs up trac every week.
28 7 * * 2 bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/backup_trac.sh /home/trac /z/stuffing/archives
-
-
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
#[bookmarks builder]
# regenerate the bookmarks pages.
24 10 * * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/bookmarks/create_marks.sh ) &>>/tmp/zz_bookmarkingering_$USER.log
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
#[chkrootkit]
# this runs chkrootkit to demonstrate a bug in the vm kernel currently
# provided by...? hmmm: who's the vendor?
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
#[doxygen]
# update the feisty meow documentation once on each of tuesday, thursday and saturday.
20 4 * * 2,4,6 (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; cd $HOME/feisty_meow/documentation; make) &>>/tmp/zz_doxy_make_$USER.log
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-#[crontab meta backup]
-# meta-operation to back up the crontab using cron itself.
+#[emit crontab]
+# meta-operation to backup the crontab file using cron itself.
28 */8 * * * crontab -l >$HOME/$USER.crontab
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-#[git account backup]
-# archives the whole ~git folder with all account databases into a compressed tar file.
-34 20 * * 5 tar -czf /z/stuffing/archives/git_archive_$(date +"\%Y_\%m_\%d_\%H\%M_\%S" | tr -d '/\n/').tar.gz /home/git >/home/git/archiving_log.txt
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
#[letsencrypt renewal]
# run the letsencrypt certificate renewal process every 4 hours.
37 */4 * * * letsencrypt renew &>>/tmp/letsencrypt_last_run.txt
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-#[linux config snarf]
-# do a backup of the config files once a week.
-28 7 * * 4 (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; cd /z/stuffing/archives; perl $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/snarf_linux_config.pl) &>>/tmp/zz_linux_config_snarf_$USER.log
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
#[mailman attribute fix]
# fix the mailman binaries.
23 5 * * * chmod -R 02775 /var/lib/mailman/logs &>/dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
#[nechung fortune]
* * * * * (export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; perl $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/text/new_sig.pl) &>>/tmp/zz_nechung_fortune_$USER.log
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
#[opensim restart]
# ensure opensim is started if we can't detect it as running.
*/5 * * * * export FOOP=/tmp/opensim_restart_$USER.log; export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh &>>$FOOP ; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/opensim/maybe_restart_opensim.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
-
-##############
#[pack feisty for web]
# this packs up our source code distributions every 8 days.
16 22 */8 * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/pack_feisty_meow.sh) &>$TMP/zz_packing_cron.log
-##############
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
#[process check]
# a crontab for periodically dumping the process state.
* * * * * (export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/processes/show_hot_ones.sh) &>>/home/$USER/zz_hot_processes.log
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
#[random sound]
* * * * * (export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/multimedia/randomly_play.sh) &>>/tmp/zz_random_sound_$USER.log
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-#[repositories updater]
-# update the source code to the latest, every day at 3am or so.
-14 3 * * * (cd ~/hoople1 ; cvs update . ; cd ~/hoople2 ; svn update . ; cd ~/yeti ; svn update . ) &>/dev/null
-# this packs up our source code distributions once a day.
-32 6 * * * (source $HOME/yeti/scripts/core/profile.sh; bash $HOME/yeti/scripts/archival/pack_yeti.sh ; bash $HOME/yeti/scripts/archival/pack_hoople1.sh ; bash $HOME/yeti/scripts/archival/pack_hoople2.sh) &>$HOME/.tmp/zz_packing_cron.log
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-USER=jurgis
-
-#[run grid container non-work-hours]
-
-# we need these for the GenesisII GFFS environment.
-GENII_INSTALL_DIR=/home/jurgis/gffs/code/GenesisII/trunk
-XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER=$GENII_INSTALL_DIR/toolkit
-GENII_USER_DIR=/home/jurgis/.tmp/dot-genesis-xcg3
-JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
-
-##############
-
-# variegated scheme: we run the container during non-working hours.
-
-# during non-weekday hours, ensure grid container is started if can't detect it as running.
- # first is for weekdays, during non-working hours.
-#*/10 0-8,19-23 * * 1-5 export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/maybe_restart_container.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
- # second is for weekends.
-#*/10 * * * 0,6 export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/maybe_restart_container.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
-
-# stop the container during working hours, so it doesn't hose up our desktop performance.
-#*/10 9-18 * * 1-5 export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/zap_genesis_javas.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
-
-##############
-
-# a fairly rude scheme; always stop the container.
-
-#*/5 * * * * export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/zap_genesis_javas.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
-
-##############
-
-#current scheme, always run it.
-*/5 * * * * export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; set &>$FOOP ; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/maybe_restart_container.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
-
-##############
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-#[serene backup]
-# backs up config files and important parts of home directories to off-machine storage.
-14 2 * * */7 (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/serene_backer_upper.sh) &>/tmp/offmachine_backup.log
-
--- /dev/null
+
+#[snarf linux configuration]
+# do a backup of the linux configuration files once a week.
+28 7 * * 4 (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; cd /z/stuffing/archives; perl $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/snarf_linux_config.pl) &>>/tmp/zz_linux_config_snarf_$USER.log
+
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
#[swim downstream]
# updates local code repositories from master versions before uploading those changes to any downstream repositories, such as sourceforge or github.
14 */2 * * * (export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; cd $HOME ; rev_update ; make ) &>>/tmp/cron-swim_downstream-$USER.log
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-#[tell zooty our ip address]
+#[tell zooty our ip]
# firewall host only--inform serene/zooty of our home IP address to enable back-connections.
0,14,28,42,56 * * * * (bash /home/fred/feisty_meow/scripts/security/tell_zooty_our_ip.sh serene.feistymeow.org fred fred ) &>>/tmp/zooty_tell_report.txt
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
#[time synch crontab]
# standard to synch to local machine.
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
#[uptime report]
# the script writes the current time and current uptime to the log file.
0 * * * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/system/write_uptime_report.sh) &>>/tmp/zz_uptime_report_$USER.log
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
#[web group perm fix]
# fix the web directories for group access.
0 * * * * chmod -R g+w /var/www &>/dev/null
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-#[whack knotify]
-# whack this troublesome process that can go cpu crazy on a logout.
-# so far this is the best solution to this major annoyance.
-*/3 * * * * killall knotify4 &>/dev/null
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-#[zooty archive packer]
-# this packs up our archives once a day.
-32 6 0 * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/pack_yeti.sh ; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/pack_hoople.sh ) &>>/tmp/zz_packing_cron_$USER.log
-
-