Shell Scripting for Automation
Turn a sequence of manual commands into a script that runs itself — arguments, control flow, error handling, and real scheduling.
Prerequisites: completed Process Management and Job Control.
Version note: verified against current docs as of July 2026: set -euo pipefail and shellcheck remain the current standard for defensive bash scripting. Cron remains in wide, current use for user-level scheduling; systemd timers are the current recommended replacement on systemd-based distros when you also need dependency ordering, logging via journalctl, or resource limits — this project covers both rather than treating one as obsolete.
Anything you've typed more than twice is a candidate for a script. This project builds a real automation script — one that takes arguments, handles errors instead of failing silently, and runs on a schedule without you present — using patterns that scale from a personal utility script to something you'd actually trust in production.
Structure and the shebang
Accept arguments and validate them
Control flow: conditionals, loops, and functions
Lint it before you trust it
Schedule it: cron and systemd timers
Secret Mission: Make it fail loudly
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