run rake ts:index from within a rake task - command

Question

I am running Rails 2.3.5.
In my project I have in lib/tasks the following rake task (test_task.rake):
desc 'test_synchro_task'
task :test_synchro_task => :environment do
# A bunch of things that are properly executed (basically I am inserting
# in the database)...
# ...
# and once the above is done, I want the following to be executed,
# the sphinx index to be rebuild, but it is NOT :
system("cd /sites/project/app")
system("RAILS_ENV='staging' rake ts:index")
end
I trigger the execution of the task via a crontab containing the following entry:
13 14 * * * cd /sites/project/app && /sites/ruby/bin/rake RAILS_ENV=staging test_task
which id correctly called and executed except for 2 system lines in the task.
Please note that when I place those 2 system lines in a ruby test.rb file in my project script directory, and run it manually using the ruby command:
ruby test.rb
those 2 system commands are properly executed and the index is rebuilt correctly.
In my rake task I tried replacing those 2 system lines by:
%x["cd /sites/project/app"]
%x["RAILS_ENV='staging' rake ts:index"]
or by
#cmd="cd /sites/project/app; RAILS_ENV='staging' rake ts:index"
`#{#cmd}`
but the rake ts:index is still not executed.
Any idea why?
Many thanks.
Yves

Answer 1

Problem resolved:
1- In the ruby script, I found that the $?.exitstatus was 127, which is "command not found".
2- This hinted me to a PATH problem occurring in the context of cron.
3- Found that post: http://dewful.com/?p=157 titled "Ruby - Cron Not Working For Ruby Script".
4- Added the PATH in the crontab and everything works fine.
Yves