Problems with xfs_fsr stdout when run by cron.

[Larry Johnson]

This is on a ubuntu 10.10 64bit mythtv system.

root at htpc:~# df -h -l -T --total -t xfs
Filesystem    Type    Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3      xfs    144G  118G   26G  82% /iso
/dev/sdb1      xfs    1.9T  1.4T  433G  77% /pvr
/dev/sdc1      xfs    1.9T  226G  1.6T  13% /pvs
total            -    3.8T  1.8T  2.1T  46%

I had severe fragmentation on /dev/sdb1 which was resolved by running
xfs_fsr about 10 times.  Subsequently I have added /dev/sdc1.

The problem occurs when I wrote a script to be run with cron,
reorganize the xfs partitions and write a report in /var/log and write
a line or two in syslog.

The output of "xfs_fsr -v -t $time_for_run -f $left_off -m $used_mtab"
when run as cron either goes to syslog instead of stdout or corrupts
the log file.  When run from a login terminal, it behaves as expected.

A thread at unix.com forum have not resulted in explaining this
behavior.  http://www.unix.com/unix-advanced-expert-users/160979-different-redirection-behavior-bash-linux-when-run-under-cron-vice-login.html#post302529475

Initially I thought it was some error on my part but I cannot rule out
some problem with xfs_fsr.  "xfs_db -r -c frag $device_file_path 2>&1"
run both before and after xfs_fsr both behave as expected when run by
cron or from a login session.

Anybody have any suggestions?

⋯larry