title: cant get a cron job running on debian
body: <p>I've got a Debian VPS with a few websites on. I'm currently using django quite heavily.</p>
  
  <p>I want a cron job to run and schedule a script inside one of my django sites. The upshot is that I can't get the Cron job running and I'm not sure how to sort it, as I've not got a lot of Linux experience.</p>
  
  <p>my /etc/crontab file</p>
  
  <pre><code># /etc/crontab: system-wide crontab
  # Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the `crontab'
  # command to install the new version when you edit this file
  # and files in /etc/cron.d. These files also have username fields,
  # that none of the other crontabs do.
  
  SHELL=/bin/sh
  HOME=/home/shofty
  LOGNAME=shofty
  PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
  MAILTO="info@webbricks.co.uk"
  
  # m h dom mon dow user  command
  17 *    * * *   root    cd / &amp;&amp; run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly
  25 6    * * *   root    test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / &amp;&amp; run-parts --report     /etc/cron.daily )
  47 6    * * 7   root    test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / &amp;&amp; run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly )
  52 6    1 * *   root    test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / &amp;&amp; run-parts --report /etc/cron.monthly )
  #
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>so I've set the job up in "crontab -e"</p>
  
  <pre><code>50 10 * * * /home/shofty/virtualenvs/webbricks/bin/chronograph -e /home/shofty/virrtualenvs/webbricks/bin/activate_this.py -p /home/shofty/virtualenvs/webbricks
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but it doesn't appear to run at the time im trying for (10:50 is arbitrary, I'm adjusting it every few minutes to get it to run after changing a setting or another).</p>
  
  <p>i think cron is running because i can do</p>
  
  <pre><code>/etc/init.d/cron stop
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but the same command with a start fails. obviously witha  start after to make it run again. 
  from everything i've read, the output of a ps aux hints that it is running.</p>
  
  <pre><code>root@shoftys - server&gt;_ /home/shofty# ps aux | grep cron 
  root     19106  0.0  0.0  18548   948 ?        Ss   10:42   0:00 /usr/sbin/cron
  root     27130  0.0  0.0   3876   600 pts/0    S+   15:52   0:00 grep cron
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I've added a > /home/shofty/virtualenvs/webbricks/cron.log to the command in crontab but it doesn't seem to want to output a logfile.
  and im getting absolutely nothing in /var/log/cron, it just says its a new file.</p>
  
  <p>as a noob, im a bit unsure where to go next, would someone who knows a lot more about linux, debian and cron suggest where to look next please?</p>