Bug#1068439: systemd-cron: cron-update causes re-run of some past timers

[Maximilian Stein]

Package: systemd-cron
Version: 2.3.4-1
Severity: normal

Dear Maintainer,

Today I noticed that a run of cron-update.service apparently causes
some past cron jobs to re-run.

In particular, I have a cron job of "5 5 5 * *" which correctly
executed this morning at 2024-04-05T05:05:08.401635+02:00.

Then, at 6:24 an automatic configuration script caused a re-run of
cron-update.service. This, however, did not only cause a restart of
the generated timer unit but also started the service itself, i.e.,
the service ran again at 2024-04-05T06:24:40.798393+02:00.

I was able to reproduce the behavior with other timers, too. It seems
that the generated cron services are executed by cron-update.service
if they are within a certain time limit in the past.

Best,
Maximilian