_Originally created by @intrigeri on [#17702 (Redmine)](https://public-redmine-archive.tails.boum.org/code/issues/17702)_ Today on `misc.lizard` there were 3 instances of that cronjob running: 1 current + 2 that started respectively on April 22 and 23. The 2 oldest ones were all stuck waiting for a `wget` command to complete. This might explain some of the leftover temporary directories we’ve seen recently (tails/tails#17679): one hypothesis is that these directories were not leftovers of “old instances of `check-mirrors.rb` was killed and did not clean up after itself”, but rather a consequence of “weeks-old `check-mirrors.rb` instances were still running”. Either way, I think we need 2 things: - [x] sysadmin: a lock on the cronjob (like we have for most similar cronjobs already) and possibly a timeout (see e.g. `timeout(1)` which seems to fit the bill), in the cronjob. In case the timeout expires or the lock can’t be taken by a new cronjob instance, I think the mirrors team should be made aware. - [ ] `check-mirrors.rb` itself: tails/tails#17736 ### Related issues - **Related to** tails/tails#17679