"bad variable name" in bash script started by cron

Question

Works just fine when running it manually on the shell but when I setup a cronjob to run it on reboot I get "bad variable name".

#! /bin/sh
# /etc/init.d/duplicityCleanUp
export PASSPHRASE=foo
duplicity remove-older-than 30D --force --gio smb://remote/archiv/
duplicity remove-all-but-n-full 1 --force --gio smb://remote/archiv/
unset PASSPHRASE

@fedorqui I thought the space was wrong too, but apparently it is acceptable... http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10197690/perl-shebang-space — Mark Setchell, Oct 08 '14 at 11:00
@MarkSetchell interesting! I learn things every day in this site. Very good to know. — fedorqui 'SO stop harming', Oct 08 '14 at 11:39

Vorsprung · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-01T08:44:57.127

26

There is a space between the #! and the /bin/sh. I don't think this is the reported problem but it needs fixing *

I guess that you are using a version of Unix or Linux where /bin/sh is not bash so the export syntax is wrong.

Alter your script to say

PASSPHRASE=foo
export PASSPHRASE

See this answer UNIX export command

* it's not a problem, see comments

edited Jun 01 '20 at 08:44

answered Oct 08 '14 at 08:57

Vorsprung

28,957
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you may check with: "ls -lrt /bin/sh" to see whether it is really pointing to bash – user1729564 Feb 11 '16 at 09:38
[The space is fine actually](https://stackoverflow.com/q/10197690/4518341), no problem there. – wjandrea May 31 '20 at 19:11
it works for me on some pipelines of deployments actions – Rene Arias Feb 02 '21 at 19:13

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 12 '19 at 17:52

They way you export or set your variables are incompatible with your shell. When executing the script - try and use different shell.

sh yourscript.sh 
bash yourscript.sh 
ksh yourscript.sh
csh yourscript.sh
zsh yourscript.sh

Mostly bash will work for you.

"bad variable name" in bash script started by cron

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