maverick: utmp/last is logging every xterm

[Adam Funk]

On 2011-01-27, C de-Avillez wrote:

>
> On 01/27/2011 04:16 PM, Adam Funk wrote:
>
>> 
>> OK, that makes sense.  Looking through the changelog [1], I get the
>> impression that utmp logging was supposed to be included in lucid but
>> couldn't be because libutempter was in universe; but in maverick that
>> library is in main so the feature could be put in xterm.  Of course, I
>> could have the wrong end of the stick.
>
> No, you are correct -- since libutempter was in Universe, xterm
> could not depend on it to write utmp entries (unless xterm itself
> was demoted from main) -- so it was built without the interface.
>
>> I guess it's personal taste, but I'm not sure why anyone would want
>> every xterm to be recorded as a log-in.
>
> Consider the case where xterm is actually run "remotely" -- this, by
> itself, could be a good reason to write an entry on utmp.

I'm not sure what you mean, but I have a fairly traditional (ssh)
approach to remote use.  

I open an xterm on desktop.example.com, ssh into server.example.com,
and the `last` command on server shows the remote login, even with
`xterm -ut` on desktop.  I guess I could launch more xterms on server
over X (to appear on desktop), but it's easier just to open more
xterms on desktop and use a shared ssh connection to log into server.


> But, basically, we should not rely anymore on utmp giving us
> up-to-date, correct, information.

OK.