$Id: INSTALL.txt,v 1.3 2007/03/22 23:41:18 syscrusher Exp $


              INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

To install and use this module:

0. Read the README.txt and INSTALL.txt files thoroughly.

1. Copy the Cronplus files to an appropriate subdirectory in your Drupal
   environment (such as "modules/cronplus").

   This module does not require any module-specific database tables.

2. Enable the Cronplus module using the Drupal administrative screen.

3. Use the settings page to configure Cronplus as you wish. Current
   options include:

   * Preferred hour

     For cronplus runs that happen at daily, or longer, time intervals,
     this option instructs the module to do its work at the first Drupal
     cron run that happens during or after the specified hour (24-hour
     time, GMT timezone).

   * Preferred weekday

     For cronplus runs that happen at weekly, or longer, time intervals,
     this option instructs the module to do its work at the first Drupal
     cron run that happens during or after the specified day of the week.
     Note that the "preferred hour" option is still in effect also, so
     the two together attempt to set the weekday and the hour of the day.

   * Preferred month

     For cronplus runs that happen at yearly time intervals, this option
     instructs the module to do its work at the first Drupal cron run 
     that happens during or after the specified day of the week.
     Note that the "preferred hour" and "preferred weekday" options are
     still in effect also, so the three together attempt to set the month,
     weekday, and hour of the day.

   Note that *all* of these options are only advisory to cronplus.module.
   Its ability to follow these instructions depends on how often your
   Drupal system invokes cron.php. In general, the more frequently cron.php
   is invoked, the closer to your requested day of week and hour of day
   the jobs will actually run. cronplus.module will forego the preferred
   day and hour settings if it detects that a given run is overdue. The
   priority is to get the runs to happen at or near the appropriate
   intervals first and foremost. Over time, a well-tuned system should
   (in theory) tend to converge toward your preferred values.

4. TROUBLESHOOTING

   If you have problems with cron.php timing out, check your PHP settings
   for maximum script execution time, and also check the timeout setting
   for the system batch job that invokes cron.php. (In Linux systems,
   this would typically be either "wget" or "curl" commands, both of
   which have options to set the time limit.)

   Note that under certain circumstances -- particularly, when the module
   is first installed -- it is *NORMAL* for the time interval hooks to
   be invoked twice in fairly rapid succession. This will self-correct as
   the previous run history is written into the {variable} table.
