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From: MAP@LCS.MIT.EDU (Michael A. Patton)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Why does every xterm create an entry in /usr/utmp?
Message-ID: <8909051759.AA11810@gaak.LCS.MIT.EDU>
Date: 5 Sep 89 17:59:35 GMT
References: <3472@blake.acs.washington.edu>
Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 30

I think what you want is two-fold.  First the explanation of why it's
like that.  I believe it was somebody's idea about how to fix a "bug"
that existed before it.  I consider the "fix" worse than the original
"bug".  The original "bug" was that the reported idle time for a user
was usually wildly wrong.  The supposed "fix", causing all xterms to
show up in a finger or who so that one will show no idle time, is
worse because it makes it hard to determine what really is going on.
I frequently have many xterms on my display and walk away to fix
something, and then log in (once) from a remote machine while working
there.  It would be a lot to expect of most users to see a list of 15
"me"s and determine the one that's "current".  Furthermore, when I am
using the display, I tend to be using things other than xterm, so this
isn't a "fix" anyway.

I therefore use the utmpInhibit facility mentioned in a previous
message (which arrived here while I was typing this up).  But rather
than using the -ut switch each time I invoke xterm, I make it the
default (for me) by putting the following in my Xresources (or
whatever name you use) file:

xterm*utmpInhibit:	on


	    __
  /|  /|  /|  \		Michael A. Patton, Network Manager
 / | / | /_|__/		Laboratory for Computer Science
/  |/  |/  |atton	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are a figment of the phosphor
on your screen and do not represent the views of MIT, LCS, or MAP. :-)