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answer: direct
beat: tooling
source: 1 article · updated: November 13, 2026
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What happens if a cron job is still running when the next one starts?

Cron starts another instance anyway. Overlapping runs can corrupt data or pile up. Guard long jobs with a lock, for example flock around the command, so a second run exits or waits instead of running concurrently.

Answered in

Cron Expressions and the Gotchas That Bite in Production

Five fields, four special characters, and a handful of traps: the OR rule, the tiny environment, silent output, overlapping runs and time zones.

Crashtech Editorial November 13, 2026 Developer Tooling

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