Under Construction
The utmp Format
The files /etc/utmp and /var/adm/wtmp (as well as /etc/security/failedlogin) use the utmp format for storing data records. The definition of the format can be found in the C header file /usr/include/utmp.h:
struct utmp
{
char ut_user[256] ; /* User login name */
char ut_id[14] ; /* /etc/inittab id */
char ut_line[64] ; /* device name (console, lnxx) */
pid_t ut_pid ; /* process id */
short ut_type ; /* type of entry */
time64_t ut_time ; /* time entry was made */
struct exit_status
{
short e_termination ; /* Process termination status */
short e_exit ; /* Process exit status */
}
ut_exit ; /* The exit status of a process
* marked as DEAD_PROCESS.
*/
char ut_host[256] ; /* host name */
int __dbl_word_pad; /* for double word alignment */
int __reservedA[2];
int __reservedV[6];
} ;
There are 9 different types of entries. The specific type of a given entry is determined by the ut_type field. The following types are defined (also found in /usr/include/utmp.h):
/* Definitions for ut_type */
#define EMPTY 0
#define RUN_LVL 1
#define BOOT_TIME 2
#define OLD_TIME 3
#define NEW_TIME 4
#define INIT_PROCESS 5 /* Process spawned by "init" */
#define LOGIN_PROCESS 6 /* A "getty" process waiting for login */
#define USER_PROCESS 7 /* A user process */
#define DEAD_PROCESS 8
#define ACCOUNTING 9
For processes started by init(1), init(1) generates entries with the value 5 (INIT_PROCESS) in /etc/utmp and /var/adm/utmp. A started getty(1) process generates entries with the value 6 (LOGIN_PROCESS) and a user login then leads to an entry with the type 7 (USER_PROCESS). If a user logs out again, an entry with type 8 (DEAD_PROCESS) is generated and the exit status of the process is recorded in the e_exit field. The types listed will be examined in more detail later. Each entry has a time stamp (ut_time) that indicates when the entry was generated.
In addition to the type field ut_type, there are the following fields:
- ut_user: For processes, the name of the associated user.
- ut_id: For processes started by init(1), the ID of the inittab(4) entry.
- ut_line: The device name of the terminal for logins.
- ut_pid: The PID of the started process.
- ut_type: The type of entry.
- ut_time: Timestamp of the entry.
- ut_exit: For entries with type 8 (DEAD_PROCESS) the exit status of the process.
- ut_host: For remote logins, the name or IP address of the remote host.