Remove cron.php entirely, as it is no longer necessary.

.htaccess

@@ -99,8 +99,7 @@ DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.htm
 
   # Redirect common PHP files to their new locations.
   RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(.*)?/(update.php) [OR]
-  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(.*)?/(install.php) [OR]
+  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(.*)?/(install.php)
-  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(.*)?/(cron.php)
   RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !core
   RewriteRule ^ %1/core/%2 [L,QSA,R=301]
 

core/INSTALL.txt

@@ -273,10 +273,10 @@ INSTALLATION
 
    It is also possible to run the cron tasks independent of site visits; this is
    recommended for most sites. To do this, you will need to set up an automated
-   process to visit the page cron.php on your site, which executes the cron
+   process to visit the page /cron on your site, which executes the cron
    tasks.
 
-   The URL of the cron.php page requires a "cron key" to protect against
+   The URL of the cron page requires a "cron key" to protect against
    unauthorized access. Your site's cron key is automatically generated during
    installation and is specific to your site. The full URL of the page, with the
    cron key, is available in the "Cron maintenance tasks" section of the Status
@@ -284,11 +284,11 @@ INSTALLATION
 
    As an example for how to set up this automated process, you can use the
    crontab utility on Unix/Linux systems. The following crontab line uses the
-   wget command to visit the cron.php page, and runs each hour, on the hour:
+   wget command to visit the cron page, and runs each hour, on the hour:
 
-   0 * * * * wget -O - -q -t 1 http://example.com/core/cron.php?cron_key=YOURKEY
+   0 * * * * wget -O - -q -t 1 http://example.com/cron?cron_key=YOURKEY
 
-   Replace the text "http://example.com/core/cron.php?cron_key=YOURKEY" in the
+   Replace the text "http://example.com/cron?cron_key=YOURKEY" in the
    example with the full URL displayed under "Cron maintenance tasks" on the
    "Status report" page.
 

core/cron.php

@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-<?php
-
-/**
- * @file
- * Handles incoming requests to fire off regularly-scheduled tasks (cron jobs).
- */
-
-// Change the directory to the Drupal root.
-chdir('..');
-
-/**
- * Root directory of Drupal installation.
- */
-define('DRUPAL_ROOT', getcwd());
-
-include_once DRUPAL_ROOT . '/core/includes/bootstrap.inc';
-drupal_bootstrap(DRUPAL_BOOTSTRAP_FULL);
-
-if (!isset($_GET['cron_key']) || variable_get('cron_key', 'drupal') != $_GET['cron_key']) {
-  watchdog('cron', 'Cron could not run because an invalid key was used.', array(), WATCHDOG_NOTICE);
-  drupal_access_denied();
-}
-elseif (variable_get('maintenance_mode', 0)) {
-  watchdog('cron', 'Cron could not run because the site is in maintenance mode.', array(), WATCHDOG_NOTICE);
-  drupal_access_denied();
-}
-else {
-  drupal_cron_run();
-}

core/includes/bootstrap.inc

@@ -631,7 +631,7 @@ function drupal_settings_initialize() {
     // be modified by a visitor.
     if ($dir = rtrim(dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME']), '\/')) {
       // Remove "core" directory if present, allowing install.php, update.php,
-      // cron.php and others to auto-detect a base path.
+      // and others to auto-detect a base path.
       $core_position = strrpos($dir, '/core');
       if ($core_position !== FALSE && strlen($dir) - 5 == $core_position) {
         $base_path = substr($dir, 0, $core_position);

core/modules/aggregator/aggregator.test

@@ -801,11 +801,11 @@ class AggregatorCronTestCase extends AggregatorTestCase {
     $key = variable_get('cron_key', 'drupal');
     $this->createSampleNodes();
     $feed = $this->createFeed();
-    $this->drupalGet($base_url . '/core/cron.php', array('external' => TRUE, 'query' => array('cron_key' => $key)));
+    $this->cronRun();
     $this->assertEqual(5, db_query('SELECT COUNT(*) FROM {aggregator_item} WHERE fid = :fid', array(':fid' => $feed->fid))->fetchField(), 'Expected number of items in database.');
     $this->removeFeedItems($feed);
     $this->assertEqual(0, db_query('SELECT COUNT(*) FROM {aggregator_item} WHERE fid = :fid', array(':fid' => $feed->fid))->fetchField(), 'Expected number of items in database.');
-    $this->drupalGet($base_url . '/core/cron.php', array('external' => TRUE, 'query' => array('cron_key' => $key)));
+    $this->cronRun();
     $this->assertEqual(5, db_query('SELECT COUNT(*) FROM {aggregator_item} WHERE fid = :fid', array(':fid' => $feed->fid))->fetchField(), 'Expected number of items in database.');
 
     // Test feed locking when queued for update.
@@ -816,7 +816,7 @@ class AggregatorCronTestCase extends AggregatorTestCase {
         'queued' => REQUEST_TIME,
       ))
       ->execute();
-    $this->drupalGet($base_url . '/core/cron.php', array('external' => TRUE, 'query' => array('cron_key' => $key)));
+    $this->cronRun();
     $this->assertEqual(0, db_query('SELECT COUNT(*) FROM {aggregator_item} WHERE fid = :fid', array(':fid' => $feed->fid))->fetchField(), 'Expected number of items in database.');
     db_update('aggregator_feed')
       ->condition('fid', $feed->fid)
@@ -824,7 +824,7 @@ class AggregatorCronTestCase extends AggregatorTestCase {
         'queued' => 0,
       ))
       ->execute();
-    $this->drupalGet($base_url . '/core/cron.php', array('external' => TRUE, 'query' => array('cron_key' => $key)));
+    $this->cronRun();
     $this->assertEqual(5, db_query('SELECT COUNT(*) FROM {aggregator_item} WHERE fid = :fid', array(':fid' => $feed->fid))->fetchField(), 'Expected number of items in database.');
   }
 }

core/modules/simpletest/drupal_web_test_case.php

@@ -2188,7 +2188,7 @@ class DrupalWebTestCase extends DrupalTestCase {
    * Runs cron in the Drupal installed by Simpletest.
    */
   protected function cronRun() {
-    $this->drupalGet($GLOBALS['base_url'] . '/core/cron.php', array('external' => TRUE, 'query' => array('cron_key' => variable_get('cron_key', 'drupal'))));
+    $this->drupalGet('cron', array('query' => array('cron_key' => variable_get('cron_key', 'drupal'))));
   }
 
   /**

core/modules/system/system.install

@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ function system_requirements($phase) {
     }
 
     $description .= ' ' . $t('You can <a href="@cron">run cron manually</a>.', array('@cron' => url('admin/reports/status/run-cron')));
-    $description .= '<br />' . $t('To run cron from outside the site, go to <a href="!cron">!cron</a>', array('!cron' => url($base_url . '/core/cron.php', array('external' => TRUE, 'query' => array('cron_key' => variable_get('cron_key', 'drupal'))))));
+    $description .= '<br />' . $t('To run cron from outside the site, go to <a href="!cron">!cron</a>', array('!cron' => url('cron', array('query' => array('cron_key' => variable_get('cron_key', 'drupal'))))));
 
     $requirements['cron'] = array(
       'title' => $t('Cron maintenance tasks'),

core/modules/system/system.module

@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
  * Configuration system that lets administrators modify the workings of the site.
  */
 
+use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;
+
 /**
  * Maximum age of temporary files in seconds.
  */
@@ -580,6 +582,12 @@ function system_element_info() {
  * Implements hook_menu().
  */
 function system_menu() {
+  $items['cron'] = array(
+    'title' => 'Run cron',
+    'page callback' => 'system_cron_callback',
+    'access callback' => 'system_cron_access',
+    'type' => MENU_CALLBACK,
+  );
   $items['system/files'] = array(
     'title' => 'File download',
     'page callback' => 'file_download',
@@ -1128,6 +1136,36 @@ function system_menu() {
   return $items;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Page callback; Execute cron tasks.
+ *
+ * @see system_cron_access().
+ */
+function system_cron_callback() {
+  drupal_cron_run();
+
+  // HTTP 204 is "No content", meaning "I did what you asked and we're done."
+  return new Response('a', 204);
+}
+
+/**
+ *Access callback for system_cron().
+ *
+ * @see system_cron_callback().
+ */
+function system_cron_access() {
+  if (request()->get('cron_key') != variable_get('cron_key', 'drupal')) {
+    watchdog('cron', 'Cron could not run because an invalid key was used.', array(), WATCHDOG_NOTICE);
+    return FALSE;
+  }
+  elseif (variable_get('maintenance_mode', 0)) {
+    watchdog('cron', 'Cron could not run because the site is in maintenance mode.', array(), WATCHDOG_NOTICE);
+    return FALSE;
+  }
+
+  return TRUE;
+}
+
 /**
  * Theme callback for the default batch page.
  */

core/modules/system/system.test

@@ -811,18 +811,18 @@ class CronRunTestCase extends DrupalWebTestCase {
     global $base_url;
 
     // Run cron anonymously without any cron key.
-    $this->drupalGet($base_url . '/core/cron.php', array('external' => TRUE));
+    $this->drupalGet('cron');
     $this->assertResponse(403);
 
     // Run cron anonymously with a random cron key.
     $key = $this->randomName(16);
-    $this->drupalGet($base_url . '/core/cron.php', array('external' => TRUE, 'query' => array('cron_key' => $key)));
+    $this->drupalGet('cron', array('query' => array('cron_key' => $key)));
     $this->assertResponse(403);
 
     // Run cron anonymously with the valid cron key.
     $key = variable_get('cron_key', 'drupal');
-    $this->drupalGet($base_url . '/core/cron.php', array('external' => TRUE, 'query' => array('cron_key' => $key)));
+    $this->drupalGet('cron', array('query' => array('cron_key' => $key)));
-    $this->assertResponse(200);
+    $this->assertResponse(204);
   }
 
   /**

core/scripts/cron-curl.sh

@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-curl --silent --compressed http://example.com/core/cron.php
+curl --silent --compressed http://example.com/cron

core/scripts/cron-lynx.sh

@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-/usr/bin/lynx -source http://example.com/core/cron.php > /dev/null 2>&1
+/usr/bin/lynx -source http://example.com/cron > /dev/null 2>&1

core/scripts/drupal.sh

@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@ All arguments are long options.
               If the given path and file exists it will be executed directly,
               i.e. if URI is set to http://default/bar/foo.php
               and bar/foo.php exists, this script will be executed without
-              bootstrapping Drupal. To execute Drupal's cron.php, specify
+              bootstrapping Drupal. To execute Drupal's update.php, specify
-              http://default/core/cron.php as the URI.
+              http://default/core/update.php as the URI.
 
 
 To run this script without --root argument invoke it from the root directory