Invalid systemd OnCalendar syntax that causes timers to fail #3
Description
Description
When scheduling jobs with cron expressions, the plugin generates invalid systemd OnCalendar syntax that causes timers to fail with "Failed to parse calendar specification".
Environment
- opencode-scheduler: v1.1.0
- opencode: v1.1.36
- systemd: 255 (255.4-1ubuntu8.11)
- OS: Linux (Ubuntu)
Steps to Reproduce
- Run:
Schedule a job every minute to test - Check generated timer:
cat ~/.config/systemd/user/opencode-job-test.timer - Attempt to start:
systemctl --user daemon-reload && systemctl --user start opencode-job-test.timer - Check status:
systemctl --user status opencode-job-test.timer
Expected Behavior
Timer should have valid OnCalendar syntax and start successfully.
Actual Behavior
Generated timer has invalid syntax with spurious leading asterisk:
OnCalendar=* *-*-* *:00:00
OnCalendar=* *-*-* *:01:00
...
OnCalendar=* *-*-* *:59:00
Error from systemd:
Failed to parse calendar specification, ignoring: * *-*-* *:00:00
Timer unit lacks value setting. Refusing.
Root Cause
The cron-to-systemd conversion logic adds a spurious leading asterisk that systemd cannot parse.
Invalid (current output): OnCalendar=* *-*-* *:00:00
Valid syntax: OnCalendar=*-*-* *:00:00
According to systemd.timer(5) documentation, the correct format for OnCalendar is:
DayOfWeek Year-Month-Day Hour:Minute:Second
Valid examples:
OnCalendar=*-*-* 09:00:00 # Every day at 9am
OnCalendar=Mon-Fri 09:00:00 # Weekdays at 9am
OnCalendar=*-*-* *:*:00 # Every minute
OnCalendar=*-*-* *:0/5:00 # Every 5 minutes
The leading asterisk is not part of the format and causes the parser to fail.
Validation
This can be verified using systemd's built-in validation:
# Invalid (fails):
systemd-analyze calendar "* *-*-* *:00:00"
# Output: Failed to parse calendar specification
# Valid (succeeds):
systemd-analyze calendar "*-*-* *:00:00"
# Output: Original form: *-*-* *:00:00, Normalized form: *-*-* *:00:00, Next elapse: [timestamp]