In rails applications, we often need to handle periodical / repetitive tasks. The most common way to implement this in Unix like environments is by using Cron, a time based job scheduler. Cron enables users to schedule jobs and run them periodically driven by a crontab (cron table) file. Inspite of the ubiquity of cron jobs, factors like unfamiliarity with the syntax, cron files addition while deploying the application, necessity to login to server for cron file maintenance makes cron an external dependency. Fortunately, all these issues are addressed with a nice little ruby gem “Whenever” that takes the pain out of configuring cron jobs.
Whenever allows you to write cron jobs in Ruby language with a much simpler syntax.
sandheepg 