add support for hash scheduling

dkron/job.go

@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"regexp"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/distribworks/dkron/v4/extcron"
@@ -31,6 +33,9 @@ const (
 	ConcurrencyAllow = "allow"
 	// ConcurrencyForbid forbids a job from executing concurrency.
 	ConcurrencyForbid = "forbid"
+
+	// HashSymbol is the "magic" character used in scheduled to be replaced with a value based on job name
+	HashSymbol = "~"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -303,10 +308,64 @@ func (j *Job) GetTimeLocation() *time.Location {
 	return loc
 }
 
+// nameHash returns hash code of the job name
+func (j *Job) nameHash() int {
+	hash := 0
+	for _, c := range j.Name {
+		hash += int(c)
+	}
+	return hash
+}
+
+// scheduleHash replaces H in the cron spec by a value derived from job Name
+// such as "0 0 ~ * * *"
+func (j *Job) scheduleHash() string {
+	spec := j.Schedule
+
+	if !strings.Contains(spec, HashSymbol) {
+		return spec
+	}
+
+	hash := j.nameHash()
+	parts := strings.Split(spec, " ")
+	partIndex := 0
+	for index, part := range parts {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(part, "@") {
+			// this is a pre-defined scheduled, ignore everything
+			return spec
+		}
+		if strings.HasPrefix(part, "TZ=") || strings.HasPrefix(part, "CRON_TZ=") {
+			// do not increase partIndex
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if strings.Contains(part, HashSymbol) {
+			// mods taken in accordance with https://dkron.io/docs/usage/cron-spec/#cron-expression-format
+			partHash := hash
+			switch partIndex {
+			case 2:
+				partHash %= 24
+			case 3:
+				partHash = (partHash % 28) + 1
+			case 4:
+				partHash = (partHash % 12) + 1
+			case 5:
+				partHash %= 7
+			default:
+				partHash %= 60
+			}
+			parts[index] = strings.ReplaceAll(part, HashSymbol, strconv.Itoa(partHash))
+		}
+
+		partIndex++
+	}
+	return strings.Join(parts, " ")
+}
+
 // GetNext returns the job's next schedule from now
 func (j *Job) GetNext() (time.Time, error) {
 	if j.Schedule != "" {
-		s, err := extcron.Parse(j.Schedule)
+		s, err := extcron.Parse(j.scheduleHash())
 		if err != nil {
 			return time.Time{}, err
 		}
@@ -367,7 +426,7 @@ func (j *Job) Validate() error {
 
 	// Validate schedule, allow empty schedule if parent job set.
 	if j.Schedule != "" || j.ParentJob == "" {
-		if _, err := extcron.Parse(j.Schedule); err != nil {
+		if _, err := extcron.Parse(j.scheduleHash()); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("%s: %s", ErrScheduleParse.Error(), err)
 		}
 	}

dkron/job_test.go

@@ -192,6 +192,18 @@ func Test_isRunnable(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func Test_scheduleHash(t *testing.T) {
+	job := &Job{
+		Name: "test_job",
+	}
+	job.Schedule = "0 0 ~ * * *"
+	assert.Equal(t, "0 0 18 * * *", job.scheduleHash())
+	job.Schedule = "TZ=Europe/Madrid 0 0 1 * ~ *"
+	assert.Equal(t, "TZ=Europe/Madrid 0 0 1 * 7 *", job.scheduleHash())
+	job.Schedule = "TZ=Europe/Madrid @at something with ~"
+	assert.Equal(t, "TZ=Europe/Madrid @at something with ~", job.scheduleHash())
+}
+
 type gRPCClientMock struct {
 }
 

dkron/scheduler.go

@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ func (s *Scheduler) AddJob(job *Job) error {
 	// If Timezone is set on the job, and not explicitly in its schedule,
 	// AND its not a descriptor (that don't support timezones), add the
 	// timezone to the schedule so robfig/cron knows about it.
-	schedule := job.Schedule
+	schedule := job.scheduleHash()
 	if job.Timezone != "" &&
 		!strings.HasPrefix(schedule, "@") &&
 		!strings.HasPrefix(schedule, "TZ=") &&

website/docs/usage/cron-spec.md

@@ -9,12 +9,12 @@ A cron expression represents a set of times, using 6 space-separated fields.
 
 	Field name   | Mandatory? | Allowed values  | Allowed special characters
 	----------   | ---------- | --------------  | --------------------------
-	Seconds      | Yes        | 0-59            | * / , -
-	Minutes      | Yes        | 0-59            | * / , -
-	Hours        | Yes        | 0-23            | * / , -
-	Day of month | Yes        | 1-31            | * / , - ?
-	Month        | Yes        | 1-12 or JAN-DEC | * / , -
-	Day of week  | Yes        | 0-6 or SUN-SAT  | * / , - ?
+	Seconds      | Yes        | 0-59            | * / , - ~
+	Minutes      | Yes        | 0-59            | * / , - ~
+	Hours        | Yes        | 0-23            | * / , - ~
+	Day of month | Yes        | 1-31            | * / , - ? ~
+	Month        | Yes        | 1-12 or JAN-DEC | * / , - ~
+	Day of week  | Yes        | 0-6 or SUN-SAT  | * / , - ? ~
 
 Note: Month and Day-of-week field values are case insensitive.  "SUN", "Sun",
 and "sun" are equally accepted.
@@ -51,6 +51,10 @@ Question mark ( ? )
 Question mark may be used instead of '*' for leaving either day-of-month or
 day-of-week blank.
 
+Tilde ( ~ )
+
+Tilde will be replaced by a numeric value valid for the range where it is used. It allows periodically scheduled tasks to produce even load on the system. For example, scheduling multiple hourly jobs to "0 H * * * *" rather than "0 0 * * * *" will run the jobs at different minutes of every hour. It can be thought of as a random value over a range, but it actually is a hash of the job name, not a random function, so that the value remains stable for any given job. 
+
 ### Predefined schedules
 
 You may use one of several pre-defined schedules in place of a cron expression.