Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ispi!jbayer
From: jbayer@ispi.UUCP (Jonathan Bayer)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix
Subject: Re: Why is wtmp so big?
Message-ID: <1226@ispi.UUCP>
Date: 29 Nov 89 13:42:33 GMT
References: <1126@serene.UUCP>
Organization: Intelligent Software Products, Inc.
Lines: 21

rfarris@serene.UUCP (Rick Farris) writes:

>In my never-ending search for disk space, I have discovered
>/etc/wtmp, which is a whopping 4,184,424 bytes long.  Is this normal?

Yes, if you don't shorten it periodictly

>Is this a "log" file, composed of numerous /etc/utmp entries?  Can I
>truncate it by copying /etc/utmp to it?  Can I delete it altogether,
>and let it recreate itself?

If you delete it then it will not be recreated.  You can truncate it by
either copying /etc/utmp to it, or by copying /dev/null to it.



JB
-- 
Jonathan Bayer		Intelligent Software Products, Inc.
(201) 245-5922		500 Oakwood Ave.
jbayer@ispi.COM		Roselle Park, NJ   07204