I'am missing a ">/var/run/utmpx" in rc.sysinit which clears the user database at glibc 2.1 systems.
Fixed oon the beta release
Bug seems to be back in the official release (initscripts-4.16) and in the rawhide (4.19) version. BTW1: /var/log/wtmpx should be handled (touch'ed, chmod'ed,...) like /var/log/wtmp. BTW2: In the rawhide version /var/run will be cleared by rc.sysinit *after* creation of utmp, so utmp will be removed also.
the accidental removal of utmp will be fixed in initscripts-4.20. As for utmpx/wtmpx, currently it's ignored because nothing shipped in RH6.0 should be using it...
Yes, you are right. After introducing the utmpx/wtmpx stuff at my system (early glibc2.1 ages), much new compiled programs where configured to look for .tmpx files only. So it seems more programs are using .tmpx than .tmp; but it's just my problem :(, not yours.
enabling utmpx by default has the potential to screw up older programs. This is something that the user/administrator of the bix has to decide for himself.
But if the user has enabled utmpx, then initscripts needs to do something like [ -s /var/run/utmpx ] && cp /dev/null /var/run/utmpx Ditto wtmpx.
true, but it leads to the problem (at least in the current initscripts) of determining behavior based on a file you've alread deleted. :)
initscripts-4.22 will zero /var/run/utmpx, /var/log/wtmpx if it finds them...