.\" $OpenBSD: utmp.5,v 1.18 2002/05/30 06:19:07 deraadt Exp $ .\" $NetBSD: utmp.5,v 1.5 1994/11/30 19:31:35 jtc Exp $ .\" .\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software .\" must display the following acknowledgement: .\" This product includes software developed by the University of .\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" @(#)utmp.5 8.2 (Berkeley) 3/17/94 .\" .Dd March 17, 1994 .Dt UTMP 5 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm utmp , .Nm wtmp , .Nm lastlog .Nd login records .Sh SYNOPSIS .Fd #include .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Aq Pa utmp.h file declares the structures used to record information about current users in the .Nm utmp file, logins and logouts in the .Nm wtmp file, and last logins in the .Nm lastlog file. The time stamps of date changes, shutdowns, and reboots are also logged in the .Nm wtmp file. .Pp .Nm wtmp can grow rapidly on busy systems, so daily or weekly rotation is recommended. If any one of these files does not exist, it is not created. They must be created manually and are maintained by .Xr newsyslog 8 . .Bd -literal -offset indent #define _PATH_UTMP "/var/run/utmp" #define _PATH_WTMP "/var/log/wtmp" #define _PATH_LASTLOG "/var/log/lastlog" #define UT_NAMESIZE 32 #define UT_LINESIZE 8 #define UT_HOSTSIZE 256 struct lastlog { time_t ll_time; char ll_line[UT_LINESIZE]; char ll_host[UT_HOSTSIZE]; }; struct utmp { char ut_line[UT_LINESIZE]; char ut_name[UT_NAMESIZE]; char ut_host[UT_HOSTSIZE]; time_t ut_time; }; .Ed .Pp Each time a user logs in, the .Xr login 1 program looks up the user's .Tn UID in the .Nm lastlog file. If it is found, the timestamp of the last time the user logged in, the terminal line, and the hostname are written to the standard output (provided the login is not .Dq quiet ; see .Xr login 1 ) . The .Xr login 1 program then records the new login time in the .Nm lastlog file. .Pp After the new .Fa lastlog record is written, .\" the .\" .Xr libutil 3 .\" routine the .Nm utmp file is opened and the .Fa utmp record for the user is inserted. This record remains until the user logs out at which time it is deleted. The .Nm utmp file is used by the programs .Xr rwho 1 , .Xr users 1 , .Xr w 1 , and .Xr who 1 . .Pp Next, the .Xr login 1 program opens the .Nm wtmp file and appends the user's .Fa utmp record. When the user logs out, a .Fa utmp record with the tty line, an updated timestamp, and zeroed name and host fields is appended to the file (see .Xr init 8 ) . The .Nm wtmp file is used by the programs .Xr last 1 and .Xr ac 8 . .Pp In the event of a date change, shutdown, or reboot, the following items are logged in the .Nm wtmp file: .Pp .Bl -tag -width shutdownxx -compact .It Li reboot .It Li shutdown A system reboot or shutdown has been initiated. A tilde .Pq Sq \&~ character is placed in the field .Fa ut_line , and .Dq reboot or .Dq shutdown in the field .Fa ut_name (see .Xr shutdown 8 and .Xr reboot 8 ) . .Pp .It Li date The system time has been manually or automatically updated (see .Xr date 1 ) . The command name .Xr date 1 is recorded in the field .Fa ut_name . In the field .Fa ut_line , the .Dq \&| character indicates the time prior to the change and the .Dq \&{ character indicates the new time. .El .Sh CAVEATS The strings in the .Fa utmp and .Fa lastlog structures are .Em not normal .Sq C strings and are thus not guaranteed to be null terminated. .Sh FILES .Bl -tag -width /var/log/lastlog -compact .It Pa /var/run/utmp .It Pa /var/log/wtmp .It Pa /var/log/lastlog .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr last 1 , .Xr login 1 , .Xr who 1 , .Xr ac 8 , .Xr init 8 .Sh HISTORY A .Nm utmp and .Nm wtmp file format appeared in .At v3 . The .Nm lastlog file format appeared in .Bx 3.0 .