[sidhu1f]

Some of Mcron's innovations[1]:

> The new idea is to read the required command instructions, work out which command needs to be executed next, and then sleep until the inferred time has arrived. On waking the commands are run, and the time of the next command is computed.

> Each user looks after his own files in his own directory. He can use more than one to break up complicated cron specifications. Each user can run his own daemon. This removes the need for suid programs to manipulate the crontabs, and eliminates many security concerns that surround all existing cron programs.

> Vixie cron is implemented in 4500 lines of C code; mcron is 1500 lines of scheme, despite the fact that it offers many more features and much more flexibility, and complete compatibility with Vixie cron.

[1] https://www.gnu.org/software/mcron/design.html

[JdeBP]

One would have to check the timeline to determine whether the second was, in fact, an Mcron innovation. Uwe Ohse's uschedule, which has been around since 2001, also works by individual users having files in their own directories with their own daemons.

* https://ohse.de./uwe/uschedule.html

* http://jdebp.eu./Softwares/uschedule/