Description of Problem: after some time logged in from tty1 (hours? days?) the session no longer shows to w, who, or finger The session is still active, per last or ps. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): na How Reproducible: intermittent Steps to Reproduce: 1. 2. 3. Actual Results: Expected Results: Additional Information:
That might happen if your /var/run/utmp file gets purged or cleaned up by some cronjob. Try disabling all none required cronjobs and see if the problem persits. Read ya, Phil
Thanks for the response! I believe you are correct about the involvement of the utmp file, but I don't think it's a cron job causing the problem. The only cron processes running are those with the default 7.2 installation (except an hourly run of rdate to set the time). I've monitored several login sessions for several days now, and they still report just fine with w, who, and finger. Here's some additional information that may be helpful. The first time I noticed the problem was after I had run nmap on the box to scan itself (I think--this may have also happened in conjunction with the following). There have been a few instances when I've been logged in via telnet from my HP200LX palmtop computer over my home LAN. When the 200LX has powered down during the connection, the console login sessions have disappeared. Something about the way those dead sessions are handled maybe? Again, thanks for any suggestions on follow-up I might take.
OK, back again. This really sounds very much like a similar bug with finger that has been reported impossible login times (#52682). As reported in 52682 it might be related to KDE, but in your case this seems to be a console/bash problem not cleaning up utmp. I'll see what i can do. I guess just making finger and who a little smarter and do the same thing that last does might be a good start. Read ya, Phil
Closing due to inactivity and because the "bug" hasn't surface anymore lately for me. Read ya, Phil