5
2
Ubuntu 9.10
Silly question time: When the clamav-freshclam service is running, how often is clamav checking for updates? Or do I have to manually run freshclam via a cronjob?
Mike B
Posted 2009-12-04T00:54:21.877
Reputation: 2 308
ClamAV/FreshClam Update Intervals
Answers
5
how often is clamav checking for updates?
Unless you setup a cronjob it will not check for updates.
Do I have to manually run freshclam via a cronjob?
The purpose of a cronjob is to automate the process. You can decide to run it in the following:
/etc/cron.daily
/etc/cron.hourly
/etc/cron.weekly
/etc/cron.monthly
I recommend cron.daily and set it up via a shell script.
sudo gedit /etc/cron.daily/freshclam.sh
#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/freshclam --quiet
This will now run with all your other cron.daily jobs
Save and exit
chmod 755 /etc/cron.daily/freshclam.sh
ricbax
Posted 2009-12-04T00:54:21.877
Reputation: 4 894
0
actually, the "you have to run cron" is wrong.
freshclam man-pages state clearly:
-d, --daemon Run in a daemon mode. Defaults to 12 checks per day unless otherwise specified by --checks or freshclam.conf.
user43514
Posted 2009-12-04T00:54:21.877
Reputation: 1
the "-d" parameter exists at least since v0.90 which is roughly something released in 2009. (tested with clamav 0.90.1dfsg-4etch19 on an old debian) – user43514 – 2017-09-15T00:36:41.923
Another possibility is to use
/etc/cron.d, and it would be better because then you can run it at an arbitrary time. From clamav manual: "Please don't choose any multiple of 10, because there are already too many clients using those time slots." – user1338062 – 2015-10-14T06:15:48.0171Great answer, explains cron's basic structure in one go too :) – invert – 2009-12-04T08:55:41.930