Perform the standard daily periodic executable run. This usually occurs early in the morning (local time).
weekly
Perform the standard weekly periodic executable run. This usually occurs on Sunday mornings.
monthly
Perform the standard monthly periodic executable run. This usually occurs on the first day of the month.
security
Perform the standard daily security checks. This is usually spawned by the daily run.
path
An arbitrary directory containing a set of executables to be run.
If an argument is an absolute directory name it is used as is, otherwise it is searched for under /etc/periodic and any other directories specified by the local_periodic setting in periodic.conf(5) (see below).
The periodic utility will run each executable file in the directory or directories specified. If a file does not have the executable bit set, it is silently ignored.
Each script is required to exit with one of the following values:
0
The script has produced nothing notable in its output. The <basedir_show_success> variable controls the masking of this output.
1
The script has produced some notable information in its output. The <basedir_show_info> variable controls the masking of this output.
2
The script has produced some warnings due to invalid configuration settings. The <basedir_show_badconfig> variable controls the masking of this output.
>2
The script has produced output that must not be masked.
If the relevant variable (where <basedir> is the base directory in which the script resides) is set to "NO" in periodic.conf, periodic will mask the script output. If the variable is not set to either "YES" or "NO", it will be given a default value as described in periodic.conf(5).
All remaining script output is delivered based on the value of the <basedir_output> setting.
If this is set to a path name (beginning with a ‘/’ character), output is simply logged to that file. newsyslog(8) knows about the files /var/log/daily.log, /var/log/weekly.log and /var/log/monthly.log, and if they exist, it will rotate them at the appropriate times. These are therefore good values if you wish to log periodic output.
If the <basedir_output> value does not begin with a ‘/’ and is not empty, it is assumed to contain a list of email addresses, and the output is mailed to them.
If <basedir_output> is not set or is empty, output is sent to standard output.
