Cron-jobs.md

Some tasks need to be run on a regular basis for reddit to function properly. These jobs are described by the reddit-job- jobs in the upstart directory. Following are explanations of the various periodic tasks.

update_sr_names

0    3 * * * root /sbin/start --quiet reddit-job-update_sr_names

Builds an index of subreddit names for use in the subreddit selection box on the submission page.

update_reddits

30  16 * * * root /sbin/start --quiet reddit-job-update_reddits

Updates the list of subreddits. In the open source code, subreddits are ordered by number of subscribers. This script must be run to have new subreddits show up in the /reddits listing or the top bar.

update_promos

0    * * * * root /sbin/start --quiet reddit-job-update_promos

Processes pending actions for self-serve promotions.

clean_up_hardcache

*/5  * * * * root /sbin/start --quiet reddit-job-clean_up_hardcache

Cleans expired data out of the hardcache (a table in Postgres).

email

*    * * * * root /sbin/start --quiet reddit-job-email

Processes queued emails and sends them. This includes email address verification and password reset messages.

broken_things

*/2  * * * * root /sbin/start --quiet reddit-job-broken_things

Scans through recently created things to make sure they have all of their essential attributes. Sometimes, when an app crashes mid-request, things will be left in an inconsistent state. This script will find them and mark them deleted so they don't break other pieces of the code.

rising

*/2  * * * * root /sbin/start --quiet reddit-job-rising

Calculates the rising pages. It should be run frequently to keep the rising page up to date.