Catch up missed cron jobs with anacron

anacron complements cron on desktop machines: jobs scheduled daily or weekly run at the next boot if the machine was off at their scheduled time.

LinuxschedulingautomationanacronMedium risk

Install anacron (`sudo apt install anacron`); drop your script into /etc/cron.daily and it will run once per day at boot or when due.

01Command

Command

$ sudo apt install anacron && ls /etc/cron.daily

02What it does

Plain cron assumes the machine is always on — a desktop that was off at 3am skips the job entirely. anacron tracks timestamps in /var/spool/anacron and runs daily/weekly/monthly jobs whenever they are overdue, making it the right choice for laptops and desktops.

03Risk

RiskMedium risk

Requirementsanacron package

!Warning: Do not use anacron for jobs that must run at an exact minute (certificates, reminders); cron or systemd timers remain correct for those.

04Undo

Undo

$ sudo systemctl disable --now anacron

05Sources

anacron(8) — runs commands periodically
man7.org · community · 2026-09-17
Evidence: anacron runs jobs whose period has elapsed, unlike cron
Debian wiki: cron
Debian · community · 2026-09-17
Evidence: explains /etc/cron.daily and anacron integration

Last verified: 2026-09-18 · Category: System & Settings