Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!ub!oswego!penelope.Oswego.EDU!ostroff
From: ostroff@penelope.Oswego.EDU (Boyd Ostroff)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.3b1
Subject: Fix for trashed /etc/utmp?
Message-ID: <1991Apr24.233928.16000@oswego.oswego.edu>
Date: 24 Apr 91 23:39:28 GMT
Sender: news@oswego.oswego.edu (Network News)
Reply-To: ostroff@penelope.Oswego.EDU (Boyd Ostroff)
Organization: Instructional Computing Center, SUNY at Oswego, Oswego, NY
Lines: 18

Last night my utmp file got all screwed up and I had to re-boot my 3B1.
This has happened to me a couple times before, but not too often.
Basically I got into a state where logouts were not recognized.  Even
though I was the only user, "who" showed five, several on each line!

Shutting the system down was a pain, since it "thought" there were other
active users.  The shutdown command kept giving "alarms".  Finally I had
to manually kill off some processes, type "sync" three times and then
/etc/reboot.

So, I was curious if there are any utilities out there which can re-build
a messed up utmp file without having to re-boot the system.  I'm also
a little curious why it happens in the first place (I'm running 3.51a),
and whether 3.51m fixes the problem.

||||  Boyd Ostroff / Tech Director / SUNY Oswego Dept of Theatre / 315-341-2987
||||  Sys Admin at cboard.UUCP / Serving the Performing Arts / 315-947-6414/8N1
||||  ostroff@oswego.oswego.edu / cboard!ostroff@natasha.oswego.edu