SESSREG(1)
NAME
sessreg - manage utmp/wtmp entries for non-init clients
SYNOPSIS
sessreg [-w wtmp-file] [-u utmp-file] [-L lastlog-file] [-l line-name] [-h host-name] [-s slot-number] [-x Xservers-file] [-t ttys-file] [-a] [-d] user-name
DESCRIPTION
Sessreg is a simple program for managing utmp/wtmp and lastlog entries
for xdm sessions.
System V has a better interface to utmp than BSD; it dynamically allocates entries in the file, instead of writing them at fixed positions
indexed by position in /etc/ttys.
To manage BSD-style utmp files, sessreg has two strategies. In conjunction with xdm, the -x option counts the number of lines in
/etc/ttys and then adds to that the number of the line in the Xservers
file which specifies the display. The display name must be specified
as the "line-name" using the -l option. This sum is used as the "slotnumber" in the utmp file that this entry will be written at. In the
more general case, the -s option specifies the slot-number directly.
If for some strange reason your system uses a file other than /etc/ttys
to manage init, the -t option can direct sessreg to look elsewhere for
a count of terminal sessions.
Conversely, System V managers will not ever need to use these options
(-x, -s and -t). To make the program easier to document and explain,
sessreg accepts the BSD-specific flags in the System V environment and
ignores them.
BSD and Linux also have a host-name field in the utmp file which
doesn't exist in System V. This option is also ignored by the System V
version of sessreg.
USAGE
- In Xstartup, place a call like:
- sessreg -a -l $DISPLAY -x /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers $USER
- and in Xreset:
sessreg -d -l $DISPLAY -x /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers $USER
OPTIONS
- -w wtmp-file
- This specifies an alternate wtmp file, instead of /var/log/wtmp. The special name "none" disables writing records to the wtmp file.
- -u utmp-file
- This specifies an alternate utmp file, instead of /var/run/utmp. The special name "none" disables writing records to the utmp file.
- -L lastlog-file
- This specifies an alternate lastlog file, instead of /var/log/lastlog, if the platform supports lastlog files. The special name "none" disables writing records to the lastlog file.
- -l line-name
- This describes the "line" name of the entry. For terminal sessions, this is the final pathname segment of the terminal device filename (e.g. ttyd0). For X sessions, it should probably be the local display name given to the users session (e.g. :0). If none is specified, the terminal name will be determined with ttyname(3) and stripped of leading components.
- -h host-name
- This is set for BSD hosts to indicate that the session was initiated from a remote host. In typical xdm usage, this options is not used.
- -s slot-number
- Each potential session has a unique slot number in BSD systems, most are identified by the position of the line-name in the /etc/ttysfile. This option overrides the default position determined with ttyslot(3). This option is inappropriate for use with xdm, the -x option is more useful.
- -x Xservers-file
- As X sessions are one-per-display, and each display is entered in this file, this options sets the slot-number to be the number of lines in the ttys-file plus the index into this file that the line-name is found.
- -t ttys-file
- This specifies an alternate file which the -x option will use to count the number of terminal sessions on a host.
- -a This session should be added to utmp/wtmp.
- -d This session should be deleted from utmp/wtmp. One of -a/-d
- must be specified.
SEE ALSO
AUTHOR
- Keith Packard, MIT X Consortium