The size of /var/mail/root has been increasing as i am using lot of cron jobs and may cause memory shortage. Is it wise to delete that file? How to manage this problem?
This textbox defaults to using Markdown to format your answer.
You can type !ref in this text area to quickly search our full set of tutorials, documentation & marketplace offerings and insert the link!
Accepted Answer
Hi!
I would recommend emptying the file instead of completely deleting it just to prevent any issues that might be caused by the file being missing.
cat /dev/null > /var/mail/root
You can disable cron emails completely by adding MAILTO="" to your cron file. Run crontab -e and add that line above your cron jobs. If you want to disable emails for just one cron job, you will need to redirect its output to /dev/null by adding > /dev/null 2>&1 at the end of the line. For example:
* * * * */5 /path/to/command arguments > /dev/null 2>&1
2 ways to tackle this.
- send all root emails to /dev/null
This is a sledgehammer approach that means you might miss some important error messages.
But if you don’t care too much you can append
> /dev/nullto the end of any cron job you don’t want an output from. E.G.0 * * * * python /etc/tidy-log-files.py > /dev/null
2 ) redirect root mail to a physical email address you own. This is the safer way then you can see the output and deal with it without filling your server.
go to /etc/aliases
add in a line :
root: my-email@gmail.com
So now every time root gets and email it’s redirected to the external email address instead.
As for the current load. either delete the file and recreate it as root.
Or use the mail command to look through and delete emails manually
You can disable cron emails completely by adding MAILTO=“” to your cron file. Run crontab -e and add that line above your cron jobs. If you want to disable emails for just one cron job, you will need to redirect its output to /dev/null by adding > /dev/null 2>&1 at the end of the line. For example:iuh
Become a contributor for community
Get paid to write technical tutorials and select a tech-focused charity to receive a matching donation.
DigitalOcean Documentation
Full documentation for every DigitalOcean product.
Resources for startups and SMBs
The Wave has everything you need to know about building a business, from raising funding to marketing your product.
The developer cloud
Scale up as you grow — whether you're running one virtual machine or ten thousand.
Get started for free
Sign up and get $200 in credit for your first 60 days with DigitalOcean.*
*This promotional offer applies to new accounts only.