Description of problem: In /etc/gdm/PreSession/Default should be normally the counterpart to /etc/gdm/PostSession/Default to register a session properly. But this small part seems to be forgotten in EL5. How reproducible: Just login under X and check if you logged in (from a console as root or per ssh. If you open a terminal this will register the session if it is marked as loginshell.) Additional info: I add a patch.
Created attachment 157128 [details] patch for /etc/gdm/PreSession/Default
This looks like a regression from prior behaviour under RHEL 4 and before --- was it an intentional diminishment of functionality? If so, why in the world was it done as it makes auditing harder.
On FC7 I found that gdm seems to put a wtmp entry in by itself without needing to use sessreg, but it doesn't put in a utmp entry. Comments in the gdm TODO indicate that adding a utmp entry is yet to be done. The attached patch, above, will result in a duplicate wtmp entry, so instead of "-w /var/log/wtmp" you need "-w none" on the sessreg line. ie: exec "$SESSREG" -a -w none -u /var/run/utmp -x "$X_SERVERS" -h "$REMOTE_HOST" -l "$DISPLAY" "$USER"
This problem still exists in latest gdm release. I assume this problem slipped under the radar due to the flag not being set for a update release. Thanks, Adam
indeed.
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for inclusion in the current release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Because the affected component is not scheduled to be updated in the current release, Red Hat is unfortunately unable to address this request at this time. Red Hat invites you to ask your support representative to propose this request, if appropriate and relevant, in the next release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
devack+
Could you please elaborate more on the issue/reproducer? Seems unclear for qa ack right now.
Ehem, It is not clear for me what could be unclear about the reproducibility. Please specify your question a bit more. I wounder why such a bug which is trivial to fix, needs more than 4 years to fix.
Hi, Reproduction instructions: 1) Log in via GDM 2) Open a terminal 3) run "w" At this point you should see one entry for the display and one entry for the terminal launched in step 2, but with the bug, you'll only see an entry for the terminal and not one for the display. I did a little digging today and rediscovered we actually fixed this a few years ago. The update advisory where this was fixed is here: https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2008-0398.html