Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!unido!pcsbst!jkh From: jkh@meepmeep.pcs.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: Why does every xterm create an entry in /usr/utmp? Message-ID: Date: 6 Sep 89 10:39:35 GMT References: <3472@blake.acs.washington.edu> <8909051759.AA11810@gaak.LCS.MIT.EDU> <16851@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> Sender: news@pcsbst.UUCP Organization: PCS Computer Systems, GmbH Lines: 20 In-reply-to: stolcke@icsib6.berkeley.edu's message of 5 Sep 89 21:08:01 GMT Hang on just a minute here. This is NOT a bug, or a "hack to fix finger" as most people seem to be implying. There are a number of unix utilities that expect every tty (or pty) to have a utmp entry associated with it. Write and talk, for example, require this. Without a utmp entry, users cannot write me on a given xterm (usually scribbling on my login terminal instead, which is nasty since it's the "glass tty" underlying my X session). Talk will be even more unforgiving, responding with "You don't exist, go away." It amuses me that everyone sees fit to criticise this in xterm, but never seemed to mind it in rlogind. If you think about it, they both provide the much same functionality, it's just a matter of perception. Jordan -- PCS Computer Systeme GmbH, Munich, West Germany UUCP: pyramid!pcsbst!jkh jkh@meepmeep.pcs.com EUNET: unido!pcsbst!jkh ARPA: jkh@violet.berkeley.edu or hubbard@decwrl.dec.com