Crontab task not running script - Permissions?

Question

I've got a python script on my Pi 3 to read a value from an ultra-sonic sensor then write to a db - that alls grand. I've tried to make a crontab task scheduler for it, but it's not working.

First, the script:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import os
import time
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import datetime
import glob
import MySQLdb
from time import strftime

# Variables for MySQL
db = MySQLdb.connect(host="localhost", user="root",passwd="123", 
db="temp_database")
cur = db.cursor()

def distanceRead():
  # Use BCM GPIO references
  # instead of physical pin numbers
  GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)

  # Define GPIO to use on Pi
  GPIO_TRIGGER = 23
  GPIO_ECHO    = 24

  # Speed of sound in cm/s at temperature
  temperature = 20
  speedSound = 33100 + (0.6*temperature)

  # Set pins as output and input
  GPIO.setup(GPIO_TRIGGER,GPIO.OUT)  # Trigger
  GPIO.setup(GPIO_ECHO,GPIO.IN)      # Echo

 # Set trigger to False (Low)
 GPIO.output(GPIO_TRIGGER, False)

 # Allow module to settle
 time.sleep(0.5)

 # Send 10us pulse to trigger
 GPIO.output(GPIO_TRIGGER, True)
 # Wait 10us
 time.sleep(0.00001)
 GPIO.output(GPIO_TRIGGER, False)
 start = time.time()

 while GPIO.input(GPIO_ECHO)==0:
    start = time.time()

 while GPIO.input(GPIO_ECHO)==1:
  stop = time.time()

 # Calculate pulse length
 elapsed = stop-start

 # Distance pulse travelled in that time is time
 # multiplied by the speed of sound (cm/s)
 distance = elapsed * speedSound

 # That was the distance there and back so halve the value
 distance = distance / 2

 return round(distance, 1)

while True:
    distanceRounded = distanceRead()
    print distanceRounded
    datetimeWrite = (time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d ") + time.strftime("%H:%M:%S"))
    print datetimeWrite
    sql = ("""INSERT INTO distanceLog (datetime,distance) VALUES (%s,%s)""",(datetimeWrite,distanceRounded))
    try:
        print "Writing to database..."
        # Execute the SQL command
        cur.execute(*sql)
        # Commit your changes in the database
        db.commit()
        print "Write Complete"

    except:
        # Rollback in case there is any error
        db.rollback()
        print "Failed writing to database"

    cur.close()
    db.close()
   # Reset GPIO settings
   GPIO.cleanup()
   break

I used

crontab -e

to get into my crontab file and and put this second task at the end of the file(the other task is running perfectly, by the way):

  */5 * * * * /home/pi/tempLog/readTempSQL.py
  */1 * * * * /home/pi/distanceLog/ultrasonicReader.py

I put in this command (I ran it from the folder the .py file is in, but does that even matter?)

  sudo chmod +x ultrasonicReader.py

and tried to test it with

   ./ultrasonicReader.py

but I get this error message -

   Traceback (most recent call last):
     File "./ultrasonicReader.py", line 64, in <module>
    distanceRounded = distanceRead()
     File "./ultrasonicReader.py", line 29, in distanceRead
     GPIO.setup(GPIO_TRIGGER,GPIO.OUT)  # Trigger
   RuntimeError: No access to /dev/mem.  Try running as root!

Any idea what I need to do to give the correct permission to let it run the script? If I use the sudo command on the line above it works fine, so I can only assume it's a permission issue rather than a code one? I assume I'd need to change the permissions on /dev/mem, but how?

The file ultasonicReader.py is definitely in /home/pi/distanceLog by the way.

Answer 1

Puting the task in

sudo crontab -e

instead of the regular crontab fixes this permission issue!

Answer 2

Try the following

sudo su 
crontab -e

Then put crontab here

sudo  ./ultrasonicReader.py

This should work or switch to root user with sudo s

Answer 3

Have you tried adding this? I've also added ampersands but have read in a few places that this is no longer required to make cronjobs run in the background.

*/5 * * * * sudo python /home/pi/templog/readTempSQL.py &
*/1 * * * * sudo python /home/pi/distanceLog/ultrasonicReader.py &